Vajiravudh[a] (1 January 1881 – 26 November 1925) was the sixth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama VI.

His full siblings were Bahurada Manimaya, Tribejrutama Dhamrong, Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, Siriraj Kakudhabhand, Asdang Dejavudh, Chudadhuj Dharadilok and Prajadhipok, who succeeded him as King Rama VII.

In 1898, he continued his education in Britain at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned as a captain in the Durham Light Infantry, which he served with for three months of exercises in the south of England upon graduation.

He studied law and history at Christ Church, Oxford in 1899, where, coming from a royal household, he was a member of the exclusive Bullingdon Club.

[6] Crown Prince Vajiravudh left England in October 1902 and returned to Siam in January 1903, traveling via US and Japan.

One of Crown Prince Vajiravudh's accomplishments during this regency was his supervision of the construction of the equestrian statue of King Chulalongkorn.

He created the rank of "general" for the first time in Siam, with his uncle, Prince Bhanurangsi Savangwongse as the first Siamese Field Marshal.

On 11 November 1910, Vajiravudh underwent a provisional coronation ceremony, with a more lavish one planned for after the funerary rites of his father were complete.

In his own hand written letter, King Vajiravudh wrote that "In the Royal Pages College, what I want is not so much to turn out model boys, all of the same standard, all brilliant scholars with thousands of marks each, as to turn out efficient young men— young men who will be physically and morally clean, and who will be looking forward keenly to take up whatever burden the future of our state may lay upon them".

On 28 November 1911 Vajiravudh's second and formal coronation was held with visiting royals from Europe and Japan as guests, a first for Siam, which festivities took 13 days.

The Uparaja presided over the intendants of monthons in the region—thus concentrating local administrative powers in his hands—much to the dismay of Prince Damrong.

Academy alumni were further provoked by Vajiravudh's creation of the Wild Tiger Corps, seen by the army as a threat to their prerogatives.

The coup leaders accused the king of devoting his time to writing and acting in theatrical plays with his companions.

They also accused him of living a luxurious Western-style life, building Sanam Chan Palace and Lumphini Park, and owning expensive horses from Australia, while preaching austerity and nationalism to his subjects.

Rama VI donated Lumphini Park, originally an exhibition ground on royal land, to the public in 1925 at his expense.

Captain Yut Kongyu, who was selected as the assassin by lottery, told Mom Chao Prawatpan, and then Prince Chakrabongse, of the intended coup.

Disagreements occurred incessantly with "old aristocrats", many of whom were his relatives such as the celebrated Prince Damrong, his uncle, who took charge of the Ministry of Interior.

King Vajiravudh is considered by some writers to be the father of Thai nationalism, which was later built upon by Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram and Sarit Thanarat.

[16] Vajiravudh wrote a letter (held in the Gloucestershire Archives, England) to his friend Maynard Colchester Wemyss setting out his reasons for going to war, dated 18 September 1917.

Though the Siamese forces that joined the march at Versailles returned triumphant in 1919, the worldwide economic problems caused by World War I were serious.

Siamese participation in World War I opened the way to reconciliation, first with the United States in 1920, then to redress the unequal treaties imposed by Western powers in the 19th century.

In 1923, Vajiravudh announced his six principles in the governance of Pattani Province, emphasizing local freedom and tax measures.

King Vajiravudh was one of Thailand's most highly renowned artists, writing modern novels, short stories, newspaper articles, poems, plays, and journals.

He wrote many other pieces promoting Thai nationalism, one of his nationalistic works is "The Honour of Tiger Soldier [th]" (Thai: เกียรติศักดิ์ทหารเสือ) based on ancient French chivalric rhyme "Mon âme à Dieu, Ma vie au Roi, Mon cœur aux Dames, L'honneur pour moi", and might also be influenced by Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers.

King Vajiravudh also composed nonfiction such as “The War of Polish Succession”, which he wrote while he was Crown Prince[23] (see also external links below).

On a trip to the English Lake District, Vajiravudh directed the performance of a play at the Stonehenge-like setting of Castlerigg Stone Circle, in the mountains near Keswick.

[27] The essay was written in the context of a recent strike by Chinese merchants and workers which had paralyzed Bangkok, and may also have been the product of Vajiravudh's exposure to European anti-Semitism.

In his influential book Imagined Communities, Anglo-Irish political scientist and historian Benedict Anderson speculated that the king was homosexual and that this would have prevented him from accession if the law of succession had not been reformed.

The reconciliation with European powers on unequal treaties progressed gradually, while the financial crisis was taking a great toll on Siam as another loan was taken from Britain and the firing of numerous government officials occurred.

In 1925 Vajiravudh had to dissolve his Nakorn Sri Thammarat Regiment and merged provinces into larger units to lower maintenance costs.