Wan Waithayakon (full title: His Royal Highness Prince Vanna Vaidhayakara, the Prince Naradhip Bongsprabandh), known in the West as ''Wan Waithayakon'' (1891–1976), was a Thai royal prince and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or interna ...

. He was President of the Eleventh Session of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

(1956–1957), while serving as

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

Permanent Representative to the United Nations A permanent representative to the United Nations (sometimes called a "UN ambassador")"History of Ambassadors", United States Mission to the United Nations, March 2011, webpagUSUN-a. is the head of a country's diplomatic mission to the United Nat ...

. He was a grandson of King

Mongkut Mongkut ( th, มงกุฏ; 18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, titled Rama IV. He ruled from 1851 to 1868. His full title in Thai was ''Phra Bat Somdet Phra Menthora Ramathibo ...

(Rama IV).

Early life and education

Prince Wan was born on 25 August 1891 in Bangkok. He began his education at Suan Kularb School and Rajvidyalai (King's College) before continuing his education in England where he earned a degree with honours in history from Oxford's Balliol College. Wan also attended the ''

Ecole Libre des Sciences Politiques , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

'' (better known as ''Sciences Po'') in Paris.

Career

Prince Wan began his career as a foreign service officer in 1917. He was appointed advisor to his cousin, King

Vajiravudh Vajiravudh ( th, วชิราวุธ, , 1 January 188126 November 1925) was the sixth monarch of Siam under the Chakri dynasty as Rama VI. He ruled from 23 October 1910 until his death in 1925. King Vajiravudh is best known for his efforts ...

, in 1922. In 1924, he was promoted to the rank of under-secretary for foreign affairs, and was responsible for negotiating several important amendments to political and commercial treaties with Western powers. Greater East Asia Conference

He was sent to Europe again in 1926 as minister accredited to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium. During that period, he also served as head of the Thai delegation to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

, where he was active in a number of important commissions as member, vice-president, and president. Prince Wan returned to Thailand in 1930, to accept a professorial chair at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University. For the next 30 years, Prince Wan continued to serve his country in a number of important diplomatic missions, some of the notable milestones being negotiations with Japan in 1943 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, representing Thailand at the Greater East Asia Conference, participation in the SEATO Council and the

Bandung Conference The first large-scale Asian–African or Afro–Asian Conference ( id, Konferensi Asia–Afrika)—also known as the Bandung Conference—was a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, which took place on 18–2 ...

, where he was elected rapporteur, and negotiations leading to Thailand's admission to the United Nations. In 1947, Prince Wan was appointed ambassador to the United States and served concurrently as ambassador to the United Nations. In 1956, he was the president of the Eleventh Session of the United Nations' General Assembly. He also served as Thailand's foreign minister from 1952 to 1957 and again in 1958.

Language

Prince Wan's expertise in languages ranged from English and

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

. He coined Thai words from English which are in use today. They include ''prachathipatai'' (democracy), ''ratthathammanoon'' (constitution), ''thanakarn'' (bank), and ''songkram'' (war). His proficiency in languages led to his being made president of the

Royal Society of Thailand The Royal Society ( th, ราชบัณฑิตยสภา, , ) is the national academy of Thailand in charge of academic works of the government. The secretariat of the society is the Office of the Royal Society ( th, สำนักง� ...

, the national arbiter of the Thai language. Prince Wan won many academic honours and is regarded as one of the founding fathers of philological

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in da ...

in Thailand.

Death

Prince Wan died on 5 September 1976, aged 85.

Honours

Foreign honours

* : Honorary Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (1964) * : Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle * : Grand Cross of the

Order of the Sun of Peru Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...

* : Grand Cordon of the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight f ...

* : Grand Cross of the Order of Sikatuna * : Grand Cross of the

Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav ( no, Den Kongelige Norske Sankt Olavs Orden; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav I ...

* : Grand Cross of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

* : Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria * : Padma Bhushan

Academic rank

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

of Chulalongkorn University

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wan Waithayakon Thai male Phra Ong Chao 19th-century Chakri dynasty 20th-century Chakri dynasty Vorawan family Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Deputy Prime Ministers of Thailand Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly Permanent Representatives of Thailand to the United Nations Permanent Representatives of Thailand to the League of Nations Ambassadors of Thailand to the United States Academics of Chulalongkorn University Fellows of the Royal Society of Thailand Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Chula Chom Klao Recipients of the Dushdi Mala Medal, Pin of Arts and Science Sciences Po alumni 1891 births 1976 deaths Thai diplomats Thai male Mom Chao Thai academic administrators