Taw Phaya
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Prince Edward Taw Phaya ( my, တော်ဘုရား; also known as Tun Aung, 22 March 1924 – 12 January 2019) was the
Pretender A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate.Curley Jr., Walter J. P. ''Monarchs-in-Waiting'' ...
to the Throne of Burma (abolished in 1885). He was the second son of Princess
Myat Phaya Galay Princess Myat Phaya Galay ( my, မြတ်ဖုရားကလေး; 25 April 1887 – 3 March 1936) was a Burmese royal princess and senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung. She was the fourth daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, ...
, the fourth daughter of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat.Kennedy, Phoebe, ''Burmese dictator lives like a king, laments the nation's last royal'', published
in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'', 12 March 2010
Upon the death of his aunt Myat Phaya Lat in 1956, he became the Head of the Royal House of Konbaung.


Biography

Taw Phaya was born on 22 March 1924 in
Maymyo Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin (, ; Shan: ), formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo (), is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of . The town was estimated to have a population of ...
, British Burma to Ko Ko Naing, a former monk, and Princess
Myat Phaya Galay Princess Myat Phaya Galay ( my, မြတ်ဖုရားကလေး; 25 April 1887 – 3 March 1936) was a Burmese royal princess and senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung. She was the fourth daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, ...
who was the fourth daughter of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. He attended high school at St. Patrick's High School
Moulmein Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...
and St. Paul's School in Rangoon. He worked as director of Thibaw Commercial Syndicate (TCS) Co. Ltd from 1951 to 1962. He was also Vice President of Association for Buddhism as the National Religion in 1958. On 4 May 1944, he married his first cousin, Princess Phaya Rita. She was the daughter of Prince Kodawgyi Naing and Princess Myat Phaya, who was the third daughter of Burma's last king,
Thibaw Min Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါ‌မင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...
and the sister of his mother. Taw Phaya family was not involved in politics, but supported the military caretaker government's anti-communist mission in 1959. The military officials focused on the Taw Phaya family to be used in the operation and invited them to come to
Shwebo Shwebo ( my, ရွှေဘိုမြို့ ) is a city in Sagaing Region, Burma, 110 km north-west of Mandalay between the Irawaddy River, Irrawaddy and the Mu River, Mu rivers. The city was the origin of the Konbaung Dynasty, establi ...
, which was the beginning of the Konbaung dynasty. After seeing local women spreading their hair to welcome the Taw Phaya family, the
Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...
thought it could compete with them for power. As a result, the military later ignored the royal family.


Documentary film

In 2017, Taw Phaya and his elder sister Hteik Su Phaya Gyi, nephew Soe Win, niece Devi Thant Sin appeared as the main characters of ''We Were Kings'', a
documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
by Alex Bescoby and Max Jones. The film premiered in Mandalay on 4 November 2017 at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival and also screened in Thailand at the
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) was founded in the 1957 in Bangkok's Patpong area. It is considered the oldest and largest press club in Southeast Asia. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam were m ...
. The film is about Myanmar's history, but also about the descendants of the last kings of Burma who lived unassuming lives in modern Myanmar, unrecognized and unknown.


Death

Taw Phaya died on 12 January 2019 at his
Pyin Oo Lwin Pyin Oo Lwin or Pyin U Lwin (, ; Shan: ), formerly and colloquially referred to as Maymyo (), is a scenic hill town in the Mandalay Region, Myanmar, some east of Mandalay, and at an elevation of . The town was estimated to have a population of ...
Residence. After his death, his eldest son, Richard Taw Phaya is presumed to be the Head of the Royal House of Konbaung, although no confirmation has been made since.


Family

Taw Phaya had five sons and two daughters: * Richard Taw Phaya Myat Gyi (born 14 May 1945), He married two times, he first married at Rangoon in May 1962 to ''Hteik Su'' Margaret Phaya Htwe (''b''. at Rangoon, 20 August 1927; ''d''. from a brain haemorrhage, at Maymyo, 21''st'' June, 2003), his paternal aunt, younger daughter of U Ko Ko Naing, by his wife, H.R.H. Princess (''Ashin Hteik Suhpaya'') Mayat Phaya Galay. ''m''. (second) at Rangoon, 1993, Myint Myint Aye. He had issue, one son by his first wife: ** Maung Aung Khine (b. 1962) * David Taw Phaya Myat (born 1 April 1947). * Edward Taw Phaya Myat Nge (born 27 April 1948 - died 14 November 1955). * Joseph Taw Phaya Myat Aye (born 19 March 1950). * Paul Taw Phaya Myat Thaike (born 19 February 1954). * Ann-Marie Su Phaya Lay (born 10 September 1952). * Rose-Marie Su Phaya Naing (born 21 April 1956).


Ancestry


References


External links


A rare meeting with the last of Burma's royals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taw Phaya 1924 births 2019 deaths Konbaung dynasty People from Mandalay Region Pretenders to the Burmese throne Burmese people of World War II Burmese princes