Private life[edit]
Monarchs of
the Chakri Dynasty
Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke portrait.jpg Yotfachulalok
(Rama I)
Buddha Loetla Nabhalai portrait.jpg Loetlanaphalai
(Rama II)
Nangklao portrait.jpg Nangklao
(Rama III)
Rama4 portrait (cropped).jpg Mongkut
(Rama IV)
King Chulalongkorn.jpg Chulalongkorn
(Rama V)
King Vajiravudh.jpg Vajiravudh
(Rama VI)
Prajadhipok portrait.jpg Prajadhipok
(Rama VII)
Ananda Mahidol portrait.jpg Ananda Mahidol
(Rama VIII)
Bhumibol Adulyadej portrait.jpg Bhumibol Adulyadej
(Rama IX)
v t e
Bhumibol is a painter, musician, photographer, author and translator. His book Phra Mahachanok is based on a traditional Jataka story of Buddhist scripture. The Story of Thong Daeng is the story of his dog Thong Daeng.[113]
In his youth, Bhumibol was greatly interested in firearms. He kept a carbine, a Sten gun and two automatic pistols in his bedroom, and he and his elder brother, King Ananda Mahidol, often used the gardens of the palace for target practice.[114]
There are two English language books that provide extensive detail – albeit not always verifiable – about Bhumibol's life, especially his early years and then throughout his entire reign. One is The Revolutionary King by William Stevenson, the other is The King Never Smiles by Paul M. Handley. A third and earlier work, The Devil's Discus, is also available in Thai and English. The latter two books are banned in Thailand, while the first has never been sold in the country due to its inaccuracies, despite having being written with royal patronage.[115]
Bhumibol's creativity in, among other things, music, art and invention, was the focus of a 2-minute long documentary created by the government of Abhibisit Vejjajiva that was screened at all branches of the Major Cineplex Group and SF Cinema City, the two largest cinema chains in Thailand.[116]
Health[edit]
Bhumibol suffers from lumbar spinal stenosis, and received a microsurgical decompression for the condition in July 2006.[117][118] Bhumibol was later admitted to hospital in October 2007 and diagnosed with a blood shortage to his brain.[119] Bhumibol was released after three weeks, after receiving treatment for various ailments including heart problems.[120]
Bhumibol was again admitted to hospital in September 2009, apparently suffering from flu and pneumonia. In 2011, it was revealed as part of WikiLeaks's leak of United States diplomatic cables that Bhumibol had suffered from Parkinson's disease and depression.[121] Bhumibol was diagnosed with diverticulitis in hospital in November 2011, and was treated for the condition in January 2012.[122] Bhumibol suffered minute subdural bleeding in the left frontal area of his brain for which he was treated in July 2012.[123] Bhumibol left hospital in July 2013.[124]
Music[edit]
Bhumibol is an accomplished jazz saxophone player and composer, playing dixieland and New Orleans jazz, and also plays the clarinet, trumpet, guitar, and piano.[125] Bhumibol has performed with Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton and Benny Carter, and Patti Page once performed Bhumibol's songs during a private audience with him.[125][126] Bhumibol has written 48 compositions, including fox-trots, waltzes, and Thai patriotic music. His most popular compositions are "Candlelight Blues," "Love at Sundown", and "Falling Rain", all composed in 1946.[125] Bhumibol's musical influences include Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and fellow alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges.[125]
Bhumibol initially received classical music training at school in Switzerland, but his elder brother, Ananda Mahidol, then King, who had bought a saxophone, sent Bhumibol in his place.[126] King Ananda would later join him on the clarinet.[126] On his permanent return to Thailand in 1950, Bhumibol started a jazz band, Lai Khram, whom he performed with on a radio station he started at his palace.[126] The band grew, being renamed the Au Sau Wan Suk band and he would perform with them live on Friday evenings, occasionally taking calls and requests on a telephone phone in.[126] Bhumibol would also perform at Thai universities, composing alma maters for the universities of Chulalongkorn, Thammasat and Kasetsart.[126] Bhumibol performed with Benny Goodman in Bangkok's Ambara Throne Hall in 1956, and later played at Goodman's home in New York in 1960.[125] In recent years Bhumibol has held jam sessions at Klai Kang Won, his summer palace in Hua Hin.[125] Les Brown and His Band of Renown recorded some of Bhumibol's compositions in 1996, though the recordings can only be heard in Thailand.[125] A 1996 documentary, Gitarajan, was made about Bhumibol's music.[125]
Bhumibol retired from public performances in the 1980s.[126] In 1986, he trained an amateur brass band made up of Thai rural development workers named "Development Friends".[126] A committee screens requests for public performances of Bhumibol's compositions, believing that his music should not be rearranged or altered.[126] In 2003, the University of North Texas College of Music awarded him an Honorary Doctorate in Music. Bhumibol was the first Asian composer awarded honorary membership of Vienna's University of Music and Performing Arts.[125]
Sailing[edit]
Bhumibol is an accomplished sailor and sailboat designer.[127] He won a gold medal for sailing in the Fourth Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games in 1967, together with HRH Princess Ubol Ratana whom he tied for points.[128] This accomplishment is all the more remarkable given Bhumibol's lack of binocular depth perception. Bhumibol has also sailed the Gulf of Thailand from Hua Hin to Toey Harbour in Sattahip, covering 60 nautical miles (110 km) in a 14-hour journey on the "Vega 1," an OK Class dinghy he built.[114]
Like his father, a former military naval engineer, Bhumibol was an avid boat designer and builder. He produced several small sail-boat designs in the International Enterprise, OK, and Moth Classes. His designs in the Moth class include the "Mod," "Super Mod," and "Micro Mod."[129]
Patents[edit]
Bhumibol is the only Thai monarch to hold a patent.[130][131] He obtained one in 1993 for a waste water aerator named "Chai Pattana", and several patents on rainmaking since 1955: the "sandwich" rainmaking patent in 1999 and lately the "supersandwich" patent in 2003.[132][133][134]