The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1920-08-19

ness, ChaO Fa ChrakrabOngS Ph1Va-
narth, Prince Phtsanulok, the heir
presumptive to the Siamese throne
directs attention the fact that
j ;
oe<NS& King Rama VI is the first bachelor
ANkLkSAGN king of Siam in $500 years. AND,
W. WA what is more, it is international
VN M diplomatic gossip that he is waiting
Na GTT to win American woman to share
X$dEENSX his throne. One reason may be that
N1NSNYA King Rama has seen American
~ w beauties in twenty states of the
Union.
Rama VI, known to his own people as Semdet
Phra Paramindr Maha Vajravudh Mongkut Krao,
Somdet Phra Rama ThibOdi VI is one of the most
interesting monarch, writes Frederick Dean. NJ
A, in the New York Tribune. The first bachelor
that sat upon the Samese throne, he is said
to be waiting for American girl to share his
throne The kings grandfather, Maha Mongkut'
used to say that he deSired-and had-a member
OF every family of note in his Kingdom in his
household" No outsider knew just how
many wives he did have His son, Maha Chula-
longkorn the father of the present king had three
wives the day before he made crown
prince. On that day he married ninety-seven
more to make up the complement of one hundred,
which was the proper number of wives for the
crown prince to have When he died-ten years
AeS-ne had between 1000 and 5000. When his
son, the then crown prince returned from his long
stay in EurOpe-he had spent third of his life
in England, France, Germany and Russia, and had
made frequent visits to Belgium, Italy and Spain,
Norway. Sweden and the Netherlands father
presented him with a collection of Siamese
beauties saying:
MY son. here are something over hundred
of the beauties of the for you start light
housekeeping with, and to these you may add as
you fit"
But the young prince, much to the discomfort
of his royal father told the monarch that he would
have none of this wholesale marriage business,
and added that when he was ready he would marry
zone wife, and she shall be the queen of my heart
we'll the queen of my realm" His father
took the decision of his very much to heart
cnd how foro that iC nov
stubborn adherence to his word helped to end his
royal fathers life When his majesty Maha
Observation-Disclosures thereafter Rama VI
came the throne there queen and
heir, a prince. or, they say in Siam,
an heir presumptive. had to be chosen. and the
lot naturally fell to the late Prince Phtsanulck,
who a brother Of the king by the same
mother.
Siam is polygamous country. According to
Siamese law a man may have many wives as
he can support. The households of royalty
into almost countless numbers. Old King MOng-
kut the grandfather of the present monarch. used
to say:
at like large families. I have eighty-six
children"
The present king has something like twenty
haIf-brothers and any quantity of half-sSters. In
doing away with the royal harem his majesty
struck blow at one of the oldest and most funda-
mental customs of the country. And If he
chooses to step out of the beaten track and marry
a foreigner he will be carrying out but one more
of his unexpected reforms, for which he has been
noted ever since he came to the throne.
Rama VI is a remarkable man in many re-
spects At the age OF twelve he was sent TO
England where he fitted into the foreign school
regime in less than six months. He played foot
hall at Rugby learned to fence, ride and swim;
entered into tournaments of golf and tennis irted
and wrote love lyrics. Later he went to Hedel-
orc whore he crossed swords with the daredevils
and drank and sang his way into the hearts OF his
fellow workers Returning to England he entered
Christ college Oxford. where on graduation he
took the first prize away from seven OF the BRAIN
,os+ Of Rritishers and then went TO Paris, where
he wrote a play that was produced at the Coincide
Francaise. he returned to Germany and wrote his
thesis for his doctors degree in German, and,
after visiting every court in Europe returned
home nv ,,av of America where he stopped long
enough to pay the president an extended visit and