ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 11, 1996 TAG: 9603110122
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BANGKOK, THAILAND
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
THEIR `ROYAL GRANDMOTHER' gave birth to two Thai kings and earned their devotion by working to help the poor.
Rifles cracked in salute Sunday as the world's longest-ruling monarch kindled a fire beneath the funeral pyre containing his mother's remains.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, his face grim, lit the fire as part of a lavish ceremony preceding the cremation of the woman revered in Thailand as the Royal Grandmother.
Siamese bugles droned in a steady dirge earlier as hundreds of thousands of grieving Thais paid last respects to Princess Sangwal Mahidol, the commoner who gave birth to two kings.
The princess made her final earthly trip atop a gilded, five-tiered funeral chariot pulled by a legion of attendants in crimson uniforms. Military cadets with fixed bayonets and costumed bearers of silk parasols flanked the vehicle, which moved to a somber drumbeat.
Mourners, some of whom fainted beneath a harsh sun, sobbed quietly and prayed as the cortege wound slowly from Bangkok's Grand Palace to a specially prepared cremation ground.
Sangwal died July 18 at age 94. An extended mourning period followed.
She was popular throughout the kingdom, particularly among Thailand's poor. By Thursday, the last day the public could view her preserved remains in the royal palace in Bangkok, more than 3 million people had come to pay their respects.
The princess was born of humble origins in 1900 and orphaned at the age of 8. She met Prince Mahidol of Songkhla while studying nursing in Boston, and they married in 1920.
She gave birth to two sons: Ananda and Bhumibol. When her husband died in 1929, her eldest son, 9-year-old Ananda, became king. He was murdered in 1946, in circumstances that remain mysterious. Bhumibol followed him to the throne.
Sangwal earned the devotion of poor Thais for her efforts to improve their lives, particularly in remote areas. Even while in her 80s, she regularly flew to isolated villages to set up projects to help ethnic hill tribes, who affectionately dubbed her ``Royal Mother from the Sky.''
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB