Thailand's 20-year-old king was found shot in his bed, and three palace servants were executed nine years later

King Ananda Mahidol, 20, had returned from Switzerland in December 1945 and was due to go back to his studies. On the morning of 9 June 1946 he was found in bed with a bullet wound to the forehead and his pistol beside him. His brother Bhumibol, 18, became king the same day and reigned until 2016. The death was first called an accident. Political rivals blamed Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong, who left the country after a 1947 coup and died in exile in Paris in 1983. Three palace staff, the king's secretary Chaleo Patoomros and two pages, Butr Patamasarin and Chit Singhaseni, were tried, convicted and executed by firing squad on 17 February 1955^†. No full account of the shooting has been published in Thailand, where the lèse-majesté law limits discussion of the royal family. The succession that followed lasted 70 years and passed control of the Crown Property Bureau, one of the largest royal fortunes in the world, to Bhumibol's son (see story 41).