Princess Galyani Vadhana

The famous person I have chosen to write about is Princess Galyani Vadhana of Thailand. She was born in London on 6th May 1923 and died in January 2, 2008. She was the older sister of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand,who has been the King of Thailand for nearly 60 years.

Princess Galyani was loved by all people. She was a doctor, a professor of French history and helped the poor through her charitable work. She helped the King with royal duties and was in charge of many organizations that helped people.

She also had a lot of interest in protecting animals in Thailand like elephants. The princess visited many other countries to help the King do his royal duties.
She produced many videos and books of the countries to teach the Thai people about different countries. The Princess also wrote many books about the history of her Royal Family to teach my people about them. The Princess married an Army officer in 1944 but he was not a Royal Family member and so she was no longer a Princess because he was a common man. When her brother became King in 1950 her Princess title was given back to her. She was married again in 1969 to a Prince and she had one girl who became a Princess too.

When the Tsunami hit Phuket in December 2004, one of her nephews, a Prince, died among thousands of people. This was very sad for my people in Thailand.

In my home city of Korat which is the capital of East Thailand, the Princes is still very much loved. She really helped a lot of the very poor people. She paid for a big hospital to be built in Korat to help many of the poor. This hospital is named after her. I went to this hospital when I was sick one day.

This year they have built a big Music University and named it after her to remember and show love to her. I miss Princess Galyani.

Text by student Jarumon Khonputsa from Thailand.