King Rama VI’s successor, Rama VII inherited numerous economic and social problems. On June 24, 1932, a small group of foreign-educated military officers and civil servants staged a coup d’etat calling for a constitutional monarchy. The king, who had already been thinking along such lines himself, granted their request. Later, he became disillusioned and abdicated in 1935, spending the rest of his life in England. Prince Ananda Mahidol, then a boy of 10, was named his successor and a regency council was appointed until he completed his studies in Switzerland.
King Rama VII