Sangwan Talapat, 1900-1995
Sangwan Talapat, the future Princess Mother of Thailand, was born on October 21, 1900 in Nonthaburi Province, Siam (later renamed to Thailand). Her father was a goldsmith who died when she was three years old. At age eight her mother also died, leaving her an orphan in the care of an aunt.
As a teenager, Sangwan studied nursing and midwifery at Sirirak Hospital in Thonburi. When she finished nursing school at age 17, she was one of two nurses awarded a scholarship by Her Majesty Queen Sawang Wattana– the Queen of Siam– to study nursing and public health in the United States.
In 1918, Sangwan Talapat traveled from San Francisco to Boston. Along with other Siamese scholarship students, Sangwan met Prince Mahidol of Songkla upon arrival at South Station. At the time, Prince Mahidol was studying at the Harvard School of Public Health; he would one day be known as the “Father of Modern Thai Medicine.” Two years later, in September of 1920, Sangwan and Prince Mahidol were wed in Siam.
The royal couple returned to Boston and lived in a small apartment at 329 Longwood Avenue. Prince Mahidol continued his studies at the Harvard School of Public Health, while Songwan Talapat Songkla took courses on household economics and nursing at Simmons College. Between 1923 and 1927 the Prince and Princess traveled throughout Europe, during which time their first two children were born. The couple welcomed a daughter named Princess Galyani Vadhana in London in 1923. Their second child, Prince Ananda Mahidol, was born two years later in Heidelburg, Germany; he would become King in 1934.
In 1927, the royal couple returned to Boston where they lived at 63 Longwood Avenue in Brookline. Sangwan returned to Simmons College during the spring semester to take classes in nutrition, psychology, child care, and chemistry. That same year, in December, the couple welcomed their third child at Mount Auburn Hospital. This child, Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej, would become King in 1946.
After Prince Mahidol graduated from Harvard Medical School with a Doctor of Medicine degree cum laude, the family returned to Siam. Due to his royal status Prince Mohidol was not able to practice medicine in Bangkok, and so left his family behind to work as a resident doctor at McCormick Hospital in Chiang Mai. In 1929 he became unexpectedly ill from kidney disease and died at the age of 37. When her husband died, Sangwan was 29 years old.
A few years later, in 1932, a governmental coup ended the country’s absolute monarchy and established a constitutional monarchy. Sangwan and her children left Bangkok for Switzerland where the children were educated. While they were living in Switzerland, the current regent King Rama VII abdicated his throne without any male heirs. Because he was the King’s nephew and Sangwan’s eldest son, Prince Ananda Mahidol was named King Rama VIII at nine years old. Despite their new status, the family remained in Switzerland while the children completed their studies.
At the end of World War II, King Ananda Mahidol returned to Thailand. During the visit, he was found dead in his bed due to a gunshot wound; he was 20 years old. After his older brother’s death, Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej became the next ruler of Thailand, King Rama IX. King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s reign would last from 1946 until his death in 2016.
Sangwan Talapat went by many names and titles throughout her life. Sangwan Talapat was her name as a commoner, but as a royal, her official name and title were Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Baromarajajanani. On her Simmons College transcript she went by Sangwan Talapat Songkla, taking on her husband’s name. However, she is most commonly known throughout the world as the Princess Mother. People across Thailand also call her Somdet Ya or “the Royal Grand Mother.”
Beginning in 1964, the Princess Mother began accompanying Border Patrol Police units to the rugged, remote regions in the hills of Thailand. After noticing poor living conditions and vulnerability to disease, she invited volunteer doctors and nurses to fly into remote regions via helicopter and provide medical services in 1969. This was the beginning of what was later called the Princess Mother Medical Volunteer Foundation. This work helped establish another two of Sangwan’s titles: “Mother of Rural Medicine in Thailand,” and, because she often flew in on the helicopters as well, Mae Fah Luang or “the Royal Mother from the sky.”
In 1989, Simmons College awarded the Princess Mother an honorary degree. President William Holmes and Administrative Vice President Carol Leary presented the Doctor of Humane Science to the Princess Mother at her palace home in Bangkok, Thailand. Her honorary degree citation states:
“At Simmons during the 1920s, you pursued studies in health care, nutrition, chemistry, and child care, developing skills that you would later use to improve the quality of life for the people of your native land. You put these skills to great purpose, helping to establish schools and bring medical services to remote villages throughout Thailand…
Throughout your life, you have been a model of great strength, integrity, and humanitarianism. We are proud and honored to count you among our alumnae.”
The Simmons honorary degree is the only honorary degree the Princess Mother ever accepted.
In 1992, the granddaughter of the Princess Mother, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, visited Simmons College and Harvard Medical School to commemorate the 100th birthday anniversary of her grandfather, Prince Mahidol of Songkla. At that point, Princess Sirindhorn and other members of the royal family had begun to take over the Princess Mother’s humanitarian work in remote Thailand. In 1995, the Princess Mother died at age 94.
In 2000, another member of the Thai royal family visited Simmons College once again. This time Princess Galyani Vadhana, daughter of the Princess Mother, visited Simmons as part of Thailand’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Princess Mother. Notably, Simmons College was the only site in the United States that was selected for this honor.