Two-Edged Blow

Of late the Siamese Official Gazette has been busy with the tribulations of King Rama VI, enlightened monarch of Siam. Some two months ago it announced that he had decided to "demote" Queen Lakshmi because she had not borne him an heir (TIME, Oct. 26). One month ago it chronicled the "promotion" of handsome Chao Chom Suvadena to the rank of Queen, adding that a royal birth, the first in Siam for 32 years, was shortly expected (TIME, Nov. 16). Last week it deplored amid bitter lamentations a swift two-edged blow of fate.

The child of King Rama by his newly promoted Queen proved to be a girl--incapable of inheriting the throne according to Siamese law. And two days later King Rama, broken, disappointed, wracked by acute gastritis and abdominal abscesses, died, at 44, mourned all but universally by his nine million subjects.

Proclaiming a royal birth and a royal death, the Gazette likewise trumpeted the Siamese equivalent for "Long Live The King!" Oval faced, almond eyed, inscrutable, Prince Pracha Tipok, ascended the throne of his unfortunate brother with the thankful gravity of one whose star, long dimmed, at length shines brightly. His Queen, by nature plump and radiant as a full-waxed moon, assumed likewise a fitting decorum. Both joined in extending what comfort they might to handsome Chao Chom Suvadena, Queen for a few anguished weeks, "demoted" by death.

Hoary Siamese croaked again, as they have croaked throughout the 15 years of King Rama's reign: "Behold what comes of a Siamese King with an English education! Fate has doomed Rama, who abolished the harem of his fathers!"

Among more enlightened critics of Siamese affairs it was recalled that King Rama has instituted numerous Western reforms (commercial, political, legal, hygienic) throughout Siam. His most picturesque innovation was perhaps the creation of a fantastic offshoot of the Boy Scout movement. For a time almost every Siamese noble was a "Chief Scout," wore a resplendent uniform not elsewhere associated with the movement, and supported a retinue of "Boy Scout guards."

In his leisure moments the late King dabbled, like many another monarch, in the arts. Two plays of famed poet William Shakespeare first appeared in Siamese over his name as translator. They were Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice.