Bhumibol Adulyadej, also called Phumiphon Adunlayadet or Rama IX, (born December 5, 1927, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. died October 13, 2016, Bangkok, Thailand), ninth king of the Chakkri dynasty (1950–2016), which has ruled or reigned in Thailand from 1782, and Thailand’s longest-serving monarch. He was a grandson of King Chulalongkorn and was born while his father, Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, was studying at Harvard University. His older brother, Ananda Mahidol, became king in 1935, but on June 9, 1946, Ananda was found dead in his bed of a gunshot wound. Bhumibol immediately succeeded to the throne following Ananda’s mysterious death (the circumstances