Field Marshal Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, the Prince of Bishnulok ( th, จักรพงษ์ภูวนาถ; ; 3 March 1883 – 13 June 1920), was the 40th child of King Chulalongkorn and the fourth child of Queen Sri Bajarindra.

Biography

The prince was sent to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

in his teens, where he studied at the Page Corps. He returned to Siam with an honorary commission in a Hussar regiment and a wife, Catherine Desnitski from

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Luts ...

(at that time part of the

), whom he had married in 1906. The Prince and his wife lived with their son, Prince Chula Chakrabongse, in Paruskavan Palace in Bangkok. They later divorced and he remarried the year before his death. The prince was a favourite son of both the King and Queen. He travelled extensively, visiting among other countries the US and United Kingdom in 1902. He also represented his father on foreign visits, such as for the funeral of King Umberto I of Italy in 1900, the wedding of Crown Prince Wilhelm and Crown Princess Cecilie of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

in 1905, and the coronation of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom in 1911. He and his brother Prince Purachatra, Commander of the Army Engineers, were instrumental in the development of aviation in the Kingdom. Prince Chakrabongse is best remembered today as the father of the army's Royal Aeronautical Service, a forerunner to the

Royal Thai Air Force "Royal Thai Air Force March" , mascot = , anniversaries = 9 April 1937 (Royal Thai Air Force Day) , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles ...

. Prince Chakrabongse served as Chief of Staff of the

Royal Siamese Army The Royal Siamese Armed Forces (Thai: กองทัพหลวง) were the armed forces of the Thai monarchy from the 12th to 19th centuries. The term refers to the military forces of the Sukhothai Kingdom, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the Thonburi ...

until his death. He died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in 1920 at the age of 37.

Ancestry

References

His Royal Highness Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, Prince of Bisnulok
1883 births 1920 deaths 19th-century Thai people 19th-century Chakri dynasty 20th-century Chakri dynasty Thai male Chao Fa Chakrabongse family Field marshals of Thailand Knights Grand Cordon of the Order of Chula Chom Klao Knights of the Ratana Varabhorn Order of Merit Knights Grand Commander (Senangapati) of the Order of Rama Recipients of the Dushdi Mala Medal, Pin of Arts and Science Deaths from pneumonia in Thailand Children of Chulalongkorn {{thailand-bio-stub