Chakri Dynasty Family Tree - The Royal House of Thailand

Queen Amarindra (born Nak) was the chief consort of King Rama I and the first queen consort of the Chakri dynasty. Born around 1737 in Samut Songkhram, she married the future king before his rise to the throne and supported him through the turbulent years following the fall of Ayutthaya and the Thonburi period. As queen, she was known for her piety and patronage of Buddhist temples in the new capital of Bangkok. Her son Isarasundhorn succeeded his father as Rama II. She lived to see her son and grandson (Rama III) both reign, dying in 1826 at an advanced age, one of the longest-lived consorts of the early dynasty.

Somdet Phra Debsirindra (born Rampoei Sirindhara) was the principal queen consort of King Rama IV (Mongkut) and mother of his successor, Chulalongkorn, later Rama V. Born in 1834, she was a granddaughter of Rama II and thus a member of the royal family in her own right before her marriage. She died in 1861 while Chulalongkorn was still a child, seven years before he came to the throne, and did not live to see her son's reign. She is remembered as the mother of one of Siam's most celebrated modernizing kings.

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke, known as Rama I, founded the Chakri dynasty in 1782 after the fall of the Thonburi kingdom and established Bangkok as the new capital of Siam on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. Born in Ayutthaya in 1737, he rose through military ranks under King Taksin before taking the throne himself. As king, he rebuilt Siamese administration, law, and religion after decades of war with Burma, commissioning a revised legal code and restoring Buddhist temples and texts. His son with chief consort Amarindra, Isarasundhorn, succeeded him as Rama II. He reigned until his death in 1809 and remains the dynasty's namesake, its royal house named for his pre-royal title, Chao Phraya Chakri.

Queen Rambhai Barni was the wife of King Rama VII (Prajadhipok), the last absolute monarch of Siam. Born a granddaughter of Rama IV in 1904, she married the future king in 1918 and became queen consort upon his accession in 1925. She accompanied him through the political upheaval of the 1932 revolution and his 1935 abdication, living with him in exile in England until his death in 1941. She had no children and returned permanently to Thailand after the Second World War, devoting her later years to charitable and educational causes until her death in 1984.

Queen Saovabha Phongsri was a consort of King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) and one of the most influential royal women of the Chakri dynasty. Born in 1863, she was both a half-sister and a wife of the king, a marriage pattern then customary among Siamese royalty, and bore him numerous children, including three future kings: Vajiravudh (Rama VI), Prajadhipok (Rama VII), and, through their son Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, the grandfather of Rama VIII and Rama IX. In 1897 she served as regent of Siam while Chulalongkorn undertook his first state visit to Europe, becoming the first woman to formally head the Siamese government. She died in 1919.

Queen Sirikit is the widow of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) and mother of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). Born Mom Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakara in Bangkok in 1932 to an aristocratic diplomatic family, she met the young king while he was studying in Switzerland and married him in 1950, becoming queen consort the same year. During his reign she championed rural handicrafts, traditional Thai silk weaving, and conservation projects across the country through the SUPPORT Foundation she established. She and Bhumibol had four children: Ubolratana, Vajiralongkorn, Sirindhorn, and Chulabhorn. She holds the title Queen Mother.

Somdet Phra Sri Sulalai (born Riam) was a royal consort of King Rama II and mother of his eldest surviving son, Prince Jessadabodindra, who reigned as Rama III. Born around 1770 near Nonthaburi, she came from a family involved in the court's confectionery service rather than high nobility, and never held the rank of queen. Her son's accession in 1824, chosen by the Accession Council over more senior-born half-brothers including the future Rama IV, made her one of the most consequential royal mothers of the early Bangkok era. She was posthumously honored with the title Somdet Phra Sri Sulalai. She died in 1837.

Somdet Phra Sri Suriyendra (born Boonrod) was the principal queen consort of King Rama II and mother of Prince Mongkut, who later reigned as Rama IV. Born in 1767, she was a cousin of her husband and held the highest rank among his consorts, giving her son a strong claim to the succession that was nonetheless passed over in 1824 in favor of his older half-brother, Rama III. She lived to see Mongkut spend nearly three decades as a Buddhist monk before finally ascending the throne in 1851, though she died in 1836, some years before his accession.

Srinagarindra, born Sangwan Talapat and known in her lifetime as the Princess Mother, was the wife of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and mother of two kings, Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). Born a commoner in 1900, she trained as a nurse before marrying Mahidol in 1920. Widowed in 1929, she raised her children largely in Switzerland during their education. In her later decades she became widely known in Thailand for founding rural health, education, and forest-conservation programs, earning the popular title Mae Fah Luang, royal mother from the sky, for her work reaching remote hill communities. She died in 1995.

Queen Suthida is the wife of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) of Thailand. Born Suthida Tidjai in Nakhon Ratchasima in 1978, she trained as a flight attendant for Thai Airways before joining the Royal Thai Army and rising through the ranks of the Royal Security Command, eventually becoming its deputy commander with the rank of general. She married Vajiralongkorn in May 2019, days before his formal coronation, and was crowned queen consort at that time. She has since taken on an increasingly visible public and ceremonial role alongside the king at state and royal functions.

Princess Chulabhorn Walailak is the youngest child of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, and a younger sister of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). Born in Bangkok in 1957, she trained as a scientist, earning a doctorate in organic chemistry, and has spent much of her career researching cancer and pesticide chemistry, founding the Chulabhorn Research Institute in Bangkok in 1987. Unlike her siblings, she has pursued an active scientific and academic career alongside her royal duties, representing Thailand at international science forums, and has also been involved in veterinary medicine and the arts.

Prince Mahidol Adulyadej was a son of King Rama V and Queen Saovabha Phongsri, and the father of two future kings, Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). Born in 1892, he studied public health and medicine at Harvard University in the United States, and is honored in Thailand as the father of modern medicine and public health for his work establishing medical education and hospital standards. He married Sangwan Talapat, later titled Srinagarindra, and the couple had three children. He died in 1929, well before either of his sons came to the throne, and never reigned himself.

Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, known as Rama II, ruled Siam from 1809 to 1824 as the second monarch of the Chakri dynasty. Born in 1767, the son of Rama I and Queen Amarindra, he is remembered chiefly as a poet-king who revived Siamese literature and classical arts after the disruptions of the eighteenth century, personally composing verse and sponsoring the royal poets of his court. He fathered two sons who would each later reign as king: Prince Jessadabodindra, by consort Sri Sulalai, who became Rama III, and Prince Mongkut, by principal queen Sri Suriyendra, who became Rama IV. He died in Bangkok in 1824.

Phra Nangklao, known as Rama III, reigned as King of Siam from 1824 to 1851, succeeding his father Rama II ahead of his more senior half-brother, the future Rama IV. Born in 1788, he expanded Siam's trade with China and, later in his reign, with Western powers, while overseeing military campaigns that secured Siamese influence over Laos and Cambodia. A devout patron of Buddhism, he sponsored the restoration and construction of numerous temples, including Wat Pho and Wat Arun in Bangkok. He never married a principal queen and left no heir positioned to succeed him, so on his death in 1851 the throne passed to his half-brother Mongkut, who became Rama IV.

Mongkut, known as Rama IV, reigned as King of Siam from 1851 to 1868. Born in 1804, the son of Rama II and Queen Sri Suriyendra, he spent 27 years as a Buddhist monk, rising to become a respected scholar of Pali scripture, science, and Western languages, before his accession at age 47 following the death of his half-brother Rama III. As king he opened Siam to Western trade and diplomacy through treaties including the 1855 Bowring Treaty, while preserving the kingdom's independence during an era of European colonial expansion in Southeast Asia. His employment of British tutor Anna Leonowens later inspired a heavily fictionalized Western portrayal of his court. His son with Queen Debsirindra, Chulalongkorn, succeeded him as Rama V.

Bhumibol Adulyadej, known as Rama IX, reigned as King of Thailand from 1946 until his death in 2016, the longest reign of any Thai monarch. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1927, the younger son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Srinagarindra, he succeeded his elder brother Ananda Mahidol at age eighteen. Over seven decades he became a unifying figure through repeated political upheavals, sponsoring thousands of rural development projects on poverty, agriculture, and water management. He married Sirikit in 1950, and their four children were Ubolratana, Vajiralongkorn (later Rama X), Sirindhorn, and Chulabhorn. He died in Bangkok in 2016.

Chulalongkorn, known as Rama V, reigned as King of Siam from 1868 to 1910 and is regarded as one of the country's greatest modernizing monarchs. Born in 1853, the son of Rama IV and Queen Debsirindra, he abolished slavery and the prostration custom, reformed the civil service, judiciary, and tax system along Western lines, and built Siam's first railways and telegraph network, all while skillfully navigating British and French colonial pressure to keep the kingdom the only Southeast Asian state never colonized. With his consort Queen Saovabha Phongsri he had several sons who later reigned as kings, including Vajiravudh (Rama VI), Prajadhipok (Rama VII), and, through his son Prince Mahidol, grandsons Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) and Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). He died in 1910.

Vajiravudh, known as Rama VI, reigned as King of Siam from 1910 to 1925. Born in 1880, the son of Rama V and Queen Saovabha Phongsri, he was educated in Britain and became a prolific writer and translator, introducing Western drama and modern Thai literature to the court. He introduced the use of surnames in Siam, established the Wild Tiger Corps paramilitary organization, and brought Siam into the First World War on the Allied side in 1917. He had no son; a daughter was born to him only days before his death in 1925, so the throne passed to his younger brother, Prajadhipok, who became Rama VII.

Prajadhipok, known as Rama VII, reigned as King of Siam from 1925 to 1935 and was the last absolute monarch of the Chakri dynasty. Born in 1893, the youngest son of Rama V and Queen Saovabha Phongsri, he came to the throne unexpectedly after his brother Rama VI died without a surviving son. His reign was transformed by the bloodless Siamese revolution of 1932, which ended absolute monarchy and established a constitutional system; he initially cooperated with the new government but, after political disputes over his powers, abdicated the throne in 1935 while in England, where he remained until his death in 1941. He married Queen Rambhai Barni and had no children.

Ananda Mahidol, known as Rama VIII, was King of Thailand from 1935 to 1946. Born in Heidelberg, Germany in 1925, the elder son of Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Srinagarindra, he was still a schoolboy in Switzerland when he inherited the throne at age nine following his uncle Prajadhipok's abdication, and a regency governed in his name for most of his reign. He returned to Thailand only briefly as an adult before his sudden death at the Grand Palace in Bangkok in June 1946, at age twenty. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Bhumibol Adulyadej, as Rama IX.

Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X, has reigned as King of Thailand since 2016, succeeding his father Bhumibol Adulyadej. Born in Bangkok in 1952, the only son of Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, he was educated in Australia and the United Kingdom and trained as a military pilot before being formally named Crown Prince in 1972. He assumed the throne after a period of mourning following his father's death, and was formally crowned in a traditional ceremony in 2019. He has been married several times; his current wife, since 2019, is Queen Suthida. He is the tenth monarch of the Chakri dynasty.

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn is the second daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, and a younger sister of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). Born in Bangkok in 1955, she pursued advanced academic studies in history, Pali, and Oriental languages, and has long been regarded as one of the most publicly active and popular members of the Thai royal family for her work in education, rural development, and disaster relief. In 1977 she was granted the special title Maha Chakri, elevating her standing among the royal children. She has never married and remains a full-time working member of the royal family.

Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya is the eldest child of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit, and the elder sister of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X). Born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1951, she gave up her royal titles in 1972 upon marrying an American, Peter Ladd Jensen, and lived in the United States for over two decades, working as an actress and businesswoman. Following her divorce, she returned to live in Thailand in the early 2000s and resumed an active public role in royal family events, though without reinstating her full royal title. She has remained largely engaged in charitable and film-related work.