Thai royalty, long-reigning monarch and popular King of Thailand. He was the third chld and second male to be born to his parents. Since his father was the half-brother of King Rama VII, the seated monarch at the time, no one expected Bhumibol’s family to accede to the throne. Thus his father turned to career matters, taking up public health studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His mother in the meanwhile attended Simmons College in nearby Boston. Thus their third child and most famous child was born in the United States.
Shortly after the family’s return to Thailand, the young boy’s father died on 24 September 1929. A series of events including the Great Depression and unrest in Thailand led to a coup on 24 June 1932 that did not entirely unseat the King. However, King Rama VII abdicated the throne in 1934 and Bhumibol’s older brothr, Prince Ananda, was named King at the age of 9. The year prior, in 1933, Bhumibol’s family emigrated to Switzerland where he and his brother, the young King Rama VIII attended school. The boys remained close throughout their adolescence and returned to Thailand at the end of WWII. On 9 June 1946, King Rama VIII was found dead of a gun shot wound to the head. Bhumibol was named his successor as King Rama IX.
On 4 October 1948 he was in a car accident in Switzerland. He became engaged on 19 July 1949 to one of his acquaintenances who visited him frequently while he was in the hospital. They married on 28 April 1950 and he was crowned in a ceremony on 5 May 1950.
His first child Princess Ubol Ratana arrived on 5 April 1951. She was followed by Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, born on 28 July 1952. Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn was born on 2 April 1955, and the third daughter and fourth child named Princess Chulabhornmade her appearance on 4 July 1957.
Bhumibol passed away in Siriraj Hospital on 13 October 2016, 15:52 local time, as announced by the royal palace later that day. Having reigned since 1946, he was, at the time of his death, the world’s longest-serving head of state, and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history, serving for 70 years, 126 days.
Link to Wikipedia biography