Name
Mahā Vagirāvudh

Variant name
King Rama VI, Vajiravudh, Wachirawut

Gender
Male

Birth
January 1, 1881 Bangkok

Death
November 26, 1925 Bangkok

Descriptive Note

Mahā Vagirāvudh was the sixth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty. He succeded his father, King Chulalongkorn, as King Rama VI in 1910. Hisn reign lasted 25 years and was marked by Siam's movement towards nationalism and increased democracy. He founded the country's first university, Chulalongkorn University.

He was educated in England, at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and went on to study law and history at Christ College, Oxford in 1899. In 1903 he returned to Siam.  As King, he set up some of the earliest public hospitals in Siam, improved the health care system, and the military.  Under his reign, the first airport in Siam was built and the railroad system extended.

Vagirāvudh's reign was not without strife, from attempted military coups and severe repressions (1912) to economic downturns (1913) and financial crises culminating in the bankrupcy of the Chinese-Siamese bank in 1917.

Vagirāvudh was the author of poems, novels, plays, and short stories. He translated English and French literary works into Thai, includind several plays by Shakespeare and detective novels by Agatha Cristhie. He created the character "Nai Thong-In" -- a Siamese detective, based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin. He was well-versed in Sanskrit and Hindu literature, including the Ramayana and the Mahabharata epics.

Vagirāvudh was involved in Turin 1911 as President of the Royal Siamese Commission for Foreign Exhibitions, together with H.H. Prince Rajanī as Vice President, H.E. Phyā Phiphat Kosā as committee member, and H.H. A.H. Duke as Secretary General. Colonel Gerolamo Emilio Gerini served as Commissioner-General and Chevalier Giovanni Vigna dal Ferro as Secretary. Luang Montri was the Chief of Mission of Siam at the Turin Exhibition and the Chargé d'Affaires de Siam in Paris.

 

 

Roles
Public Figures, Reign of Siam, Kings

Related Protagonists

• Gerini, Gerolamo Emilio

Related Built Environment Objects

• Pavilion of Siam