The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-04-11
.SAMESE MONARCH
WILL CROSS North
DAKOTA This MONTH
Prajadhijok and Queen Will En-
ter This Country at Portal,
N. D., April 20
WILL HAVE EYES TREATED
King Is Unostentatious Young
Man Who Would Play Rath-
er Than Be Serious
WILL HAVE EYES TREATED

New York, April II. - (NEA, AS
the time draws near for the arrival
here of His Majesty King Prajadhi-
pok, of Siam. New York's official well
.comers have grown more and more
uneasy. just how should a great city
greet the first reigning Asiatic SOW
ereign to visit our shores? Even
though he is travelling incogniso, they
thought, something ought to b. done.
While humorists made c0njectureS
on parades Of gaily accc,ltered
Bronx Zoo elephants and perform
ances on the steps of City Hal; by a
thousand - count them - Broadway
dancing girls. Siamese legation Of
ficials stepped in with the firm n
nouncement that His Majesty would
not welcome any welcomings ct ali,
They made very clear the fact that
Slams monarch Is at heart an n
ostentatious young man who would
rather play golf and take snapshots
than shake hands with frock coated
dipnitaries in front of the sound
cameras. He will be. they said. to all
intents and purposes, an obscure
Asiatic prince who has no other pur-
pose in coming here than to consult
a couple of doctors about his eyes.
A King at White House
He will live in ordinary fashion,
and wear ordinary clothes Even
when he visits Washington m as
sumes his regal title while calling at
the white house and being called up
on in turn by President Hoover. his
majesty will appear in drab occiden-
tai garb.
Those who planned his tour hoped
at first to avoid all social functions
and as many official ones as cGnven-
ton permitted. Now. however. 1t APP
pears that the king will have to un-
dergo some public entertainment and.
in turn, receive some notables OF
Siam, Canada and the United States.
The Ophir Hall estate o: Mrs.
Whitelaw Reid is being put IN order
for their majesties to live with their
encourage of fourteen. The place was
selected and obtained by legation Of
ficials because OF the quiet aud Sc
clusion it will offer for the nlonarch's
convaleScence.
King Prajadhipok tthe name IS
pronounced Theoretically, With accent
on the second syllable) and Queen
Rambai Barni pronounced "Rar1pi-
parni," accenting "par"D will travel
ircognito as Prince and Princess of
Sukhothai. Now bound for Vancou-
yer on the Empress Of Japan. they
will land April II and cross through
Canada to Portal, N. D.. arriving
there April 20.
Following a visit to Washington.
and a consultation with specialists OF
Johns Hopkins university at Baiti-
more, his majesty will undergo one
or more operations in New York. Al
though the physician in ordinary to
the King of Siam is ACCOMMODATING
the party. the work is to be delegated
entirely to American doctors.
Americans Are Respected
The choice Of American rather
than British specialists is said TO have
been made because of the important
work American science has accom-
plished in King Prajadhipok's own
country. There are several endowed
American hospitals there.
Though a defender Of the Bud
dhist faith, and supposedly a lineal
descendant Of Guatama Buddhe him.
self, King Prajadhipok has estsb-
lished something of a record for re-
ligious tolerance. Christian mission
aries long have been welcomed in ST.
am. and when the foreign community
desired to celebrate the huniredth
anniversary of the first Protestant
mission there, he turned over his
royal gardens for the occasion and
attended the festivities with his
queen.
King Chulalongkorn, who began
the modernization OF Siam, died in
1910, leaving behind him 1874 sons,
236 daughters and some 600 wives.
BY the complicated law Of succession
the throne passed to Rama VI, who
accepted Homogeneous principles to
the extent Of taking only two wives,
having denoted" the first wren she
failed to present him with q male
heir. His second wife bore him q
daughter on the day before his death.
in 1925.
Women Near Eqtslity
RAr1a's only remaining full brother
was the Prince Of Sukhothai, tl1ef1 ~.
and the heir presurnptive. seven
years before, the prince had married
the Princess RAmbai Barni, a dAugh-
ter Of his uncle, who was called the
most beautiful woman In Siam. She
belongs to that socially accomplished
and educated class Of native women
which Rama and his father had en-
coutaged. Yet it was little more than
q generation ago that q woman VA
considered of less value than q COW.
Ever since their coronation as king
and queen, the pair, still childless.
have led q quiet, modern life that Is
virtually democratic. Pfajadhipok II
the only absolute monarch Of any
important country in the world to-
day. His word in any situation would
b law. Yet he prefers to lean on the
adyice Of his carefully-chosen cabinet