Prince Prisdang

Prince Prisdang

Prince Prisdang (Thai: พระวรวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าปฤษฎางค์; rtgs: Pritsadang; 23 February 1851 – 16 March 1935) was a Thai diplomat.

Prince Prisdang was born in Bangkok, as M.C. Prisdang Xumsai, a grandson of Rama III. He was educated in Singapore and in England, subsequently graduated with all the top awards from King's College London in 1876.^[1] The event was reported in The Times of London, July 7 that year.

In 1881 he established the first permanent Siamese Embassy in England presenting his credentials to Queen Victoria in 1882.^[2] Over the next five years he became ambassador to eleven European countries and the United States of America. King Rama V asked Prince Prisdang his opinion on how to deal with European countries hunting for new colonies. In response Prince Prisdang and his associates penned a draft democratic constitution which stipulated that the monarchy be subject to constitutional law and that there be a cabinet. Siam was not yet ready for such radical a change and the prince was recalled to Bangkok where he worked as a civil servant until 1890. He then went to India to become a Buddhist monk under the name of Jinavarawansa. On his pilgrimge to the northern border with Nepal he came across the bones of the Lord Buddha complete with inscriptions dug up by Mr. Peppé, the English land owner. Through his intercession, the Vice Roy of India agreed to place the relics under the care of King Chulalongkorn of Siam. The prince became the Buddhist patriarch of Colombo, Sri Lanka, but returned to Bangkok in 1911 where he was obliged to disrobe and lived in poverty until his death in 1935.

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