THE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY ‘’MOTHER’S DAY of THAILAND ‘’celebrated world wide

BY; ASGHAR ALI MUBARAKthai14 thai4SAM_4746 cropped-thai34.jpg thai34RTE-ISB(1) SAM_4746 Queen_Sirikit_In_Russia_2007 news_other-20150702-203508-0 long live the queen

Mother’s Day of Thailand celebrated world over the mother’s Thailand  was first introduced to Thailand on 15th April, 1950. In 1976, Mother’s Day was changed to 12th August to commemorate the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit ,the Mother of all Thai people. Every year during the month of August, Thai households and public places will be decorated with lights, decorations, and portraits of the most beloved Queen Sirikit in celebration of the day of Her birth. In the morning, an alms-giving ceremony will be held followed by country-wide candle-lighting ceremony and fireworks displays. The Queen’s birthday is celebrated everywhere, but nowhere more than in Bangkok, the capital, especially along Ratchadamnern road and Grand Palace area. Queen Sirikit is regarded as mother to all Thai people, thus her birthday is also celebrated as Mother’s Day and observed as a Thai national holiday. Sirikit (Thai: สิริกิติ์; Thai pronunciation: [sìrìkìt];  listen (help·info)), born Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara (Thai: สิริกิติ์ กิติยากร; rtgs: Sirikit Kitiyakon) on 12 August 1932, is the queen consort ofBhumibol Adulyadej, King (Rama IX) of Thailand. She met Bhumibol in Paris, where her father was the Thai ambassador. They married in 1950, shortly before Bhumibol’s coronation. Sirikit was appointed Queen Regent in 1956. Sirikit produced one son and three daughters. As the consort of the king who is the world’s longest-reigning head of state, she is also the world’s longest-servingconsort of a monarch. Sirikit suffered a stroke on 21 July 2012 and has since refrained from public appearances. Sirikit was born on 12 August 1932, at the home of Lord Vongsanuprabhand, her maternal grandfather. She is the eldest daughter and the third child of Prince Nakkhatra Mangkala Kitiyakara, the son of Prince Kitiyakara Voralaksana, and Mom Luang Bua Snidvongs. Her name, which was given by King Prajadhipok, means ‘the Greatness of Kitiyakorn’.

She had three siblings; two elder brothers and a younger sister: Sirikit was raised by her maternal grandparents for a year after her birth, as her father went to United States to work as the secretary of the Siamese Royal Embassy at Washington D.C. Her mother joined her husband three months later. When she was one year old, her parents returned to Thailand. Sirikit lived together with her family in Deves Palace, near Chao Phraya River, Bangkok.

As a child, Sirikit often visited her paternal grandmother. Once in 1933, she traveled with Princess Absornsaman Devakula following King Prajadhipok’s tour in Songkhla. At age 4, Sirikit attended the Kindergarten College at Rajini School (sometimes called the Queen’s College). She studied at the primary level. During that time the Pacific Warwas being fought; Bangkok was attacked many times, thus making travel unsafe. She then moved toSaint Francis Xavier Convent School, because it was near the palace. She studied there from her second year at the primary level to the secondary level.

In 1946, when the war ended, her father moved to the United Kingdom to work as the ambassador to the Court of St. James’s, taking his family with him. At that time, Sirikit was 13 and had graduated to the secondary level. While staying in England she learned to play the piano and learned English and French. Because of her father’s work as an ambassador, she and her family moved to various countries, including Denmark and France. While living in France, she studied at a music academy in Paris.

Also while in France, Sirikit met King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is distantly related to her, both being descendants of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V.). At that time, Bhumibol had ascended to the throne and was studying in Switzerland. Both Bhumibol and Sirikit (as well as a few other students) were staying at the Thai Royal Embassy in Paris. Sirikit accompanied the king as he visited various tourist attractions. Both Bhumibol and Sirikit found much in common and thus began a relationship. On 4 October 1948, while Bhumibol was driving a Fiat Topolino on the Geneva–Lausanne road, he collided into the rear of a braking truck 10 km outside of Lausanne. He hurt his back and incurred cuts on his face that cost him most of the sight in one eye.[1] He subsequently wears an ocular prosthetic. While he was hospitalised in Lausanne, Sirikit visited him frequently. She met his mother, The Princess Mother Sangwan, who asked her to continue her studies nearby so that the king could get to know her better. Bhumibol selected a boarding school for her in Lausanne, Riante Rive. A quiet engagement in Lausanne followed on 19 July 1949,[1] and the couple married on 28 April 1950, just a week before his coronation.

The marriage took place at Srapathum Palace. Queen Sri Savarindira, the Queen Grandmother presided over the marriage ceremony. Both the king and Sirikit signed on line 11 of their certificate of marriage. As she was not yet 18, her parents also signed, on line 12 directly under her signature. She later received the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, and became queen. After the coronation ceremony on 5 May 1950, both went back to Switzerland to continue their studies, and returned to Bangkok in 1952. When the king undertook a period of service as a Buddhist monk in 1956 (as is customary for all Thai Buddhist males), Queen Sirikit became regent.[2] She performed her duties so satisfactorily that she was made queen regent and given the style of ‘Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat’ by her husband on his birthday, 5 December 1956. She then became the second Siamese queen regent. The first queen regent was Queen Saovabha Bongsri of Siam, who was regent when her husband KingChulalongkorn travelled to Europe, and later became Queen Sri Patcharindra, the queen mother. At dawn on 21 July 2012 Queen Sirikit felt unsteady and staggered while exercising at Siriraj Hospital where King Bhumibol Adulyadej resided. A team of physicians determined after performing magnetic resonance imaging that she had incurred an ischemic stroke.[3]

The Queen has been treated and has refrained from public appearances since, including the grand audience granted by her husband on his 85th Birthday Anniversary from the Ananta Samakhom Hall on 5 December 2012. The couple has 4 children; 3 daughters and a son:

Queen Sirikit’s birthday, as is the king’s, is a national holiday, and is also Mothers’ Day in Thailand. She is particularly revered in the more remote and traditional parts of the country, where the monarchy is regarded as semi-divine. Her work in promoting tolerance and understanding for the Muslim minorities in the southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat have made her especially popular amongst local Muslims. The queen has a strong bond with southern Thailand. She spends months in the Muslim-majority provinces every year. The queen is considered to be one of the more quiet diplomats. Queen Sirikit published In Memory of my European Trip in 1964, which described her time in Europe with the king. It was this book that revealed that she was a talented writer. Moreover, she has composed songs for performance by The Handsome Band, the band of the palace.

The songs she composed were:

  • Chao Chom Khwan (เจ้าจอมขวัญ)
  • That Thoe (ทาสเธอ)
  • Sai Yut (สายหยุด)
  • Nang Yaem (นางแย้ม)

Queen Sirikit is well known for her charitable work, where she is the honorary president of the Thai Red Cross, a post she has held since 1956. She gained new prominence in this role in the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in southern Thailand in December 2004. She has also been active in relief work for the many refugees from Cambodia and Burma in Thailand.

Many things in Thailand have been named after the Queen:

 

Her formal name and title is Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat Thai:สมเด็จพระนางเจ้าสิริกิติ์ พระบรมราชินีนาถ; ‘Her Majesty Queen Regent Sirikit’. Her official title is Queen Sirikit.

At present, the queen ranks as Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Thai Air Force, usually mentioned in official documents that: Chom Phon Ying Chom Phon Ruea Ying Chom Phon Akat Ying Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat Thai: จอมพลหญิง จอมพลเรือหญิง จอมพลอากาศหญิง สมเด็จพระนางเจ้าสิริกิติ์ พระบรมราชินีนาถ; ‘Her Majesty Queen Regent Sirikit, the Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Thai Air Force’. The queen holds ceremonial supreme power, after her husband who ranks as the Head of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, among the Royal Thai Army.

  • 12 August 1932 – 28 April 1950: The Honourable(English style) or Mom Rajawongse (Thai style) Sirikit Kitiyakara
  • 28 April 1950 – 5 December 1956: Her MajestyQueen Sirikit of Thailand
  • 5 December 1956 – present: Her MajestyQueen Sirikit, Queen Regent of Thailand

In 1976, the Thai government honored the queen by declaring her birthday a national holiday. Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday is celebrated on 12 August each year.