Royal duties and unbridled love

The life and times of Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, the second child of King Chulalongkorn and Queen Saovabha Phongsri and the younger brother of Prince Vajiravudh, or King Rama VI, are on show for the first time in the exhibition “Duty and Passion” at the Police Museum in Parusakawan Palace.

                The exhibition shines a light on the strong and meaningful relationship between Prince Chakrabongse and his father, King Chulalongkorn through 300 letters and rare documents, which were discovered among items put up for sale at Christie’s auction house in 1995, as well as artefacts.

 

“When I was 15, my mother, Elizabeth Chakrabongse, was dying in Cornwall and I remember her going through boxes of letters and trying to sort them out. About 14 years later, when I was in Bangkok researching the book on my grandmother, ‘Katya and the Prince of Siam’, I realised some of the letters were missing,” says Mom Rajawongse Narisa Chakrabongse, daughter of Prince Chula Chakrabongse who was the only child of Prince Chakrabongse and his Ukrainian wife, Ekaterina Desnitskaya. “Thanks to a call from Paisarn Piammattawat I was able to bring them back home. The majority I later donated to the British Library. They include the declaration of love by Prince Chakrabongse.”

                “Duty and Passion”, which is on show on the first and second floors of Parusakawan Palace, the former residence of Prince Chakrabongse, is spread over three rooms covering his early life, his education in England and Russia and his life and work in Siam.

                Among the items on show in the “Life” section are his costumes, among them the brocade jacket he wore on the occasion of being elevated to the rank of Prince of Phitsanulok Prachanatas a nine-year-old.

 

The Prince was born in 1883 and was the 40th child of King Chulalongkorn. At 13, he was sent to study in Europe, travelling by boat from Singapore to Marseilles and from there to England. He began writing to his father every week. Some 230 letters have survived along with 70 letters from the King to Prince Chakrabongse.

                In 1897, King Chulalongkorn made his first trip to Europe. While there, Prince Chakrabongse joined him in Spain and Portugal, as well as Darmstadt, where he met Tsar Nicholas II and the decision was taken to send him to study in Russia. In England, he met regularly with his older brother, Crown Prince Maha Vajiravudh, and other princes also studying in England.

                In 1898, Prince Chakrabongse left for Saint Petersburg, travelling via Paris and Berlin. Tsar Nicholas II arranged for him to stay in the Winter Palace, as well as undertaking to pay for his entire education. He was enrolled in the elite Corps des Pages cadet school.

 

                In 1902, Prince Chakrabongse graduated top of his class while Poum, his Siamese companion, came second, and their names recorded on a marble panel in the cadet school. He joined the Hussar regiment, despite the King's misgivings about him being in the cavalry.

                Three years later, Prince Chakrabongse met Russian beauty Ekaterina Desnitskaya and a few months later the couple eloped, marrying secretly in Constantinople. In 1908, Katya gave birth to Chula Chakrabongse. However, the King refused to accept the marriage and the newborn was not accorded a royal title.

                In 1918, Katya left on an extended trip to China and Japan, and the Prince became close to Princess Chavalit Obhas.A year later, the marriage was over and Katya was living in Shanghai.

 

                A large glass cabinet on the second floor of the palace displays letters, pictures and books including a certificate accompanying the bestowing of the St Andre order by Tsar Nicholas II in 1911, a letter from Prince Chakrabongse written from Parusakawan Palace to his mother, Queen Saovabha informing her of the birth of his son, Chula Chakrabongse, and the registration of name certificate she penned for the infant. Also on show are letters written by Prince Chakrabongse to his father, King Chulalongkorn, and the diaries of Prince Chakrabongse, one from 1900 and another from 1916-1918.

“We also have the menu for Prince Chakrabongse’s last meal at the Council of Defence on June 2, 1920, two days before he left for Singapore where he died. The menu, which was embellished with two symbols of the tricolour flag, consisted of soup, plakraphong (sea bass), lamb, turkey, khao Guangdong (fried rice) and ice cream and fruit,” says Paisarn, Narisa’s secretary.

                The second room also highlights the Prince’s education at the Corps des Pages, a privileged military school reserved for sons of noblemen and high-ranking officers in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and his life at the Winter Palace. Here Prince Chakrabongse is pictured in several different outfits as well as with his brothers and mother.

 

                The third and last room is dedicated to the Prince’s life and work in Siam as well as the women he loved.

                “In early 1911, Belgian aviator Charles Van Den Born demonstrated his Henri Farman four-winged bi-plane at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club, which was originally earmarked to house Pathumwan Airport. The site was later changed to Don Mueang. The two men went on to establish the Army Aviation Company. In late 1911, the Prince selected three officers, Major Luang Sakdi Sanyalawut, Captain Luang Arwut Sikikorn and First Lieutenant Tip Ketuthat to study aviation in France for two years. At that time, the aviation school in France was considered the best in the world. Because of his initial impetus, the Air Force regards the Prince as the Father of the Air Force.

                “The Prince also initiated the Royal Thai Survey Department and appointed his first aide-de-camp Luang Surayudh, later known as Phraya Bhakdiphutorn, as the department’s first chief. What is less known is that he served as vice president of the Thai Red Cross Society from 1910. After his death, the Chakrabongse Building was constructed inside King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital,” Paisarn explains.

                Other photographs show Prince Chakrabongse performing in the play, “Nou Ja” in 1914, being received by Russian army officers upon his arrival in Vladivostok, and sending the Siamese Expeditionary Force off to the First World War from Koh Si Chang on the ship Empire on June 20, 1918. An oil painting and bronze statue portray the Prince in the uniform of a Field Marshal.

 

                The love stories of the Prince Chakrabongse and Ekaterina Desnitskaya and his second wife, Princess Chavalit, are told through a series of photographs. The young prince met Katya in 1905 when he was a colonel in the Russian Army but the couple was separated for a while because of the Russian-Japanese war where Katya served as a nurse. In 1906, the couple married secretly in an Orthodox church in Constantinople. Knowing that his parents would be against their alliance, the Prince did not ask permission to wed and as a result Katya was never acknowledged, becoming something of an outcast of the Siamese Royal Family. The Russian bride tried to build bridges, dressing in Siamese costumes and mastering the Thai language. King Chulalongkorn however still refused to meet with her.

After the King’s death, Katya was awarded official status and became Mom Catherina Na Phitsanulok, named after the province for which her husband was responsible. After 10 years of married life, the Prince had an affair with his young cousin Princess Chavalit and Katya divorced him, heading to Shanghai in China to help refugees fleeing the Russian revolution.

                This exhibition, which also marks the 120th anniversary of Thai-Russian Diplomatic Relations and 100 Years of the First World War, has been launched in parallel with a book, “Letters from St Petersburg – a Siamese Prince at the court of the last Tsar” published by River Books.

 

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Looking back in wonder

The “Duty and Passion: The Life and Times of Prince Chakrabongse” exhibition is showing at Police Museum, Parusakawan Palace until September 30. It’s from Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Admission is free.

Find out more at by calling call (02) 225 0139 or (02) 222 1290 or visit www.facebook.com/River-Books.