Mongkut

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Sometimes, especially in Thai language documents, Mongkut might also refer to Vajiravudh (Rama VI), reigning title Phra Mongkut Klao Chaoyuhua.

King Mongkut (Rama IV)
One of the most remarkable kings of the Chakri Dynasty
Born	October 18, 1804 Bangkok, Thailand (Siam)
Died	October 1, 1868 Bangkok, Thailand (Siam)

King Mongkut (Rama IV), (October 18, 1804 – October 1, 1868) was king of Siam from 1851 to 1868. Historians have widely regarded him as one of the most remarkable kings of the Chakri Dynasty. Prince Mongkut was the son of King Rama II and his first wife Queen Srisuriyendra, whose first son died at birth in 1801. Prince Mongkut was five years old when his father succeeded to the throne in 1809. According to the law of succession, he was the first in line to the throne; but when his father died, his influential half-brother, Nangklao, was strongly supported by the nobility to assume the throne. Prince Mongkut decided to enter the Buddhist priesthood and travelled in exile to many locations in Thailand. Prince Mongkut spent the following twenty-seven years searching for Western knowledge; he had studied Latin, English, and astronomy with missionaries and sailors. Prince Mongkut would later be noted for his excellent command of English, although it is said that his younger brother, Vice-King Pinklao, could speak even better English.

After his twenty-seven years of pilgrimage, King Mongkut succeeded to the throne in 1851. He took the name Phra Chom Klao, although foreigners continued to call him Mongkut. His awareness of the threat from the British and French imperial powers, led him to many innovative activities. He ordered the nobility to wear shirts while attending his court; this was to show that Siam was no longer barbaric from the Western point of view.

King Mongkut periodically hired foreign instructors to teach his sons and daughters English. Among teachers in the list were a missionary named Dan Beach Bradley, who was credited for introducing Western medicine to the country and printing the first non-government run newspaper; and an English woman named Anna Leonowens, whose influence was later the subject of great Thai controversy. It is still debated how much this affected the worldview of one of his sons, Prince Chulalongkorn, who succeeded to the throne. Anna claimed that her conversations with Prince Chulalongkorn about human freedom. She also claimed that her relating to him the story of Uncle Tom's Cabin, became the inspiration for his abolition of slavery almost 40 years later. It should be noted, however, that the slavery system in Siam was very different from that in the United States, where slavery was based on race. One could be punished for torturing slaves in Siam and some 'slaves' could buy their own freedom.

Contrary to the popular belief held by some Westerners, Mongkut never offered a herd of war elephants to President Abraham Lincoln during the US Civil War for use against the Confederacy. He did offer to send some domesticated elephants to President James Buchanan, to use as beasts of burden and means of transportation. The royal letter, which was written even before the Civil War started, took some time to arrive in Washington DC, and by the time it reached its destination President Buchanan was not in office any longer. In his replying letter Lincoln, who succeeded Buchanan as the US President, respectfully declined to accept Mongkut's proposal, explaining to the King that American steam engines could also be used for the same purposes.

Leonowens' story would become the inspiration for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and Ias well as the Hollywood movies of the same title, which, because of their incorrect historical references and their disrespectful treatment of Mongkut's character, were for some time banned in Thailand as the Thai government and people considered them to be lese-majeste.

As a monk and Buddhist scholar, Mongkut worked to establish the Thammayut Nikaya, an order of Buddhist monks that he believed would conform more closely to the orthodoxy of the Theravada school. It was said that the newly-established order was tacitly supported by King Nangklao, despite oppositions to it by conservative congregations, including some princes and noblemen. Later, when Mongkut himself became King, he would strongly support his sect.

It was during his reign and under his guidance that Siam entered a treaty relationship with Great Britain. Sir John Bowring, Governor of Hong Kong, as representative of England, concluded the trade treaty (later commonly referred to as "the Bowring Treaty")with the Siamese Government in 1855. The Bowring Treaty later served as model for series of trade treaties with many other westerns countries, and historians often give credits to King Mongkut (and Sir John Bowring) for opening the new era of Siam's international commerce. These treaties, however, were also later considered an inequal treaty, and after Siam had been modernized, the Siamese government began negotiations to repel the Bowring Treaty and other similar treaties in the reign of King Vajiravudh, Rama VI, grandson of Mongkut, a task that would not succeeded until well into the reign of Rama VII, another grandson of his.

One of King Mongkut's last official duties came in 1868, when he invited Sir Harry Ord, the British Governor of Straits Settlements from Singapore, as well as a party of French astronomers and scientists, to watch the total solar eclipse, which Mongkut himself had calculated two years earlier, at (in the King's own words) "East Greenwich longitude 99 degrees 42' and latitude North 11 degrees 39'." The spot is at Wakor village in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, south of Bangkok. Mongkut's calculations proved to be exactly accurate, but this scientific expedition became perilous when Mongkut and Prince Chulalongkorn were infected with malaria. The king died several days later in the capital, and was succeeded by his son, who survived the malaria.

For his role in introducing Western science and scientific mothodology to Siam, King Mongkut is still honoured to this day in modern Thailand as the country's "Father of Modern Science and Technology".

Reportedly, Mongkut once remarked to a Christian missionary friend: "What you teach us to do is admirable, but what you teach us to believe is foolish".

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• An image of King Mongkut

Preceded by: Nangklao (Rama III)

King of Siam 1851 – 1868

Succeeded by: Chulalongkorn (Rama V)