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Thailand: The future King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) as a young prince studying in Switzerland

Ananda Mahidol (20 September 1925–9 June 1946) was the eighth monarch of Thailand under the House of Chakri. He was recognized as king by the National Assembly in March 1935. He was a nine-year-old boy living in Switzerland at this time. He returned to Thailand in December 1945.

On 9 June 1946, the King was found shot dead in his bedroom in the Boromphiman Throne Hall, (a modern residential palace located within the Grand Palace), only four days before he was scheduled to return to Switzerland to finish his doctoral degree in Law at the University of Lausanne. His brother Bhumibol Adulyadej succeeded him. Ananda Mahidol was never crowned as king, but his brother posthumously gave him the full royal title of the ninefold umbrella.