Supayalat

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Supayalat (13 December 1859 - 24 November 1925) was the last queen of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma, born to King Mindon Min and Queen of Alenandaw (also known as Hsinbyumashin).^[1] She was married to her half-brother, Thibaw Min, who became the last king of the Konbaung dynasty in 1878, upon Mindon Min's death. She is best known for engineering a massacre of 80 to 100 royal family members, to prevent potential rivals from usurping Thibaw's power ^[2], although she had always denied any knowledge of the plot, which may have been hatched by her mother together with some of the ministers, including the chancellor Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung.

Princess Hteik Supayalat aka Princess of Myadaung, with the official title of Sri Suriya Prabha Ratna Devi, was the second of three daughters (lat means second or middle) born to Mindon and Hsinbyumashin^[1], daughter of Bagyidaw and Nanmadaw Me Nu and the third of Mindon's four highest ranking queens. The three other queens of Mindon had no children, and Hsinbyumashin became more powerful after the death of the chief queen. Thibaw, on the other hand, was the son of a middle-ranking queen, Queen of Laungshe. He was however learned in the Buddhist scriptures and also educated by the missionary Dr. Marks, and became one of Mindon's favourite sons. The ambitious Hsinbyumashin, after putting him on the throne, offered her oldest daughter Hteik Supayagyi, Princess of Mong Nawng, to be his queen, but during the royal wedding ceremony Supayalat pushed in next to her sister to be annointed queen at the same time, breaking ancient custom. Her sister's marriage was never consummated, and Supayalat was said to have forced monogamy on a Burmese king for the first and the last time in history. She was only 19 and Thibaw 20.