HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has long been known as a well-rounded artist, having produced a huge body of work in various artistic fields such as prose, poetry, translated works, paintings, cartoons, music (both performing and composing). For this, and other achievements in the field of intellectual property such as the protection of traditional knowledge and geographical indications, the Princess is to be awarded the WIPO Award for Creative Excellence by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on Aug 27.
Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn share a passion for books and reading.
To trace Her Royal Highness's passion for reading and writing back to the source, it could be none other than her family environment, particularly her royal mother, Her Majesty the Queen, according to Assoc Prof Dr Yada Arunwet Aramphi, Chulalongkorn University alumni and singer with the Thai classical music ensemble for which HRH Princess Sirindhorn also played, who has written several books on the Princess's artistic skills.
Most people in the literary field either write prose, poetry, or do translations, but the Princess is highly skilled in all of these genres. She started writing at the age of nine, and since then, she has produced a huge body of work, some of which has been reprinted more than three times, while other works have been translated into other languages.
"The Princess's royal parents both loved reading and learning. Her first teacher was Her Majesty the Queen, who laid a firm base for her not only in reading, but also languages, history, and all other subjects," said Dr Yada. When the Princess was a little girl, Her Majesty the Queen would read to her, or tell stories from various sources -- story books, cartoons, history books, biographies. She had a way of making all the stories fun, even subjects that were boring. And she would like to teach the Princess beautiful passages of poetry that they would recite together, such as Inao, the royal composition by King Rama II.
In her book Somdet Mae Gub Garn Suksa (Mother and Education) written by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, she said, "Inao was one of her favourite literary works. She would let me read it, and select various excerpts for me, so I could recite many passages. In the excerpt [when Inao enjoys the beautiful flowers in the forest, all of which remind him of the lady Busaba], Her Majesty explains that the panan is the same as the lamjiak [screw pine], the petals of which are large and strong enough to write on. She told me to try and write a poem on the petal [like Inao did], but I didn't have long fingernails so she told me to use a twig. Mother had a very good memory; unusual songs or poetry that her father taught her when she was young, she would teach me in turn..."
The Queen would also give quizzes, and the prize would be one baht for every correct answer as an incentive. When the Princess found learning English to be a slog, the Queen would set a daily vocabulary list, offering one baht for every correct word. The Princess managed to save a decent amount of money that way.
When the Princess was about five-years-old and had to accompany her royal parents on their seven-month royal visit overseas, the school principal had a stock of reading books delivered -- one per day.
However, the Princess devoured them all in one sitting, and the tutor eventually had to hide them. When she returned from the trip, her reading skill was so good that she was allowed to pass to Prathom 1 without further tutorials.
Her linguistic skills are not only limited to Thai, however. Princess Sirindhorn also has a good grasp of French, Latin, German, Pali, Sanskrit, Khmer and Chinese. Translating works in these languages is one of her methods of practising her skills.
When the Princess was 11-years-old, she asked His Majesty the King if she could study French instead of the piano, a skill that required a lot of practice. His Majesty agreed, on condition that she study Latin first for one year.
In her book Mother And Education, the Princess remarks, "Mother read voraciously. She had every kind of book. She would buy books everywhere she went, and makes good use of them... Sometimes when I'm busy, I don't have time to read, but I don't know how she always finds the time. She buys her own books, and also buys to give to me, even when I got older. She would teach me to read silently, and read out loud which, she said, would help my speaking skills. She advised me to set up a library and collect books..."
As her book collection grew, Her Majesty the Queen suggested that she set up a library.
From her original collection of 200-300 books as a child, the library -- housed at Chaipattana Building in Chitralada Palace -- now comprises some 400,000 tomes.
