The Tragic Story Of Myanmar's Forgotten Royal Family ｜ Burma's Lost Royals).f616

I first came to Burma a decade ago to study its history. It's a story in which my country, Britain, is in many ways the villain. So it was surprising when after decades in the shadows, Burma's royal family decided to share their story with an Englishman. My name is Lee So-Wen. I'm the great-grandson of King Ping-Po, the last king of Burma. My great-grandfather lost his kingdom and was exiled with his family to India. A hundred years after he died, he's still entombed in India. British government refused permission for him to be transported home. I'm Myanmar. I want to walk only for Myanmar. This country was giving as a present to Queen Victoria as a New Year present. You just imagine, this is a country, not a thing to give us a present. Now we are gaining some dignity, but we have lost the hope. I first met So-Wen in 2014 when he was managing the National Under-19s football team after decades as a civil servant. He seemed almost defined by national duty and as I got to know more about him, it wasn't hard to see why. If history had taken a different course, So-Wen would be the king of Burma today. This is Golden Palace. This is where our great-grandfather was exiled. This is the story. Very good beginning, not a very good end. We call it Golden Palace, but actually this is rebuilt, reconstructed, not the original one. The original one was destroyed in Second World War. Do you think they've done a good job? I'm not happy to be here around, but then I try to accommodate and try to help, but personally I do not want to be here. Since 1885, the palace grounds have been used as a military base, first by the occupying British and now by the country's armed forces. When I came in, I had to give my identity and I'm very disappointed. I will not come again next time. Were you ever worried that they wouldn't let you in? No, no. I'm very confident they cannot do that. But you'd prefer that they didn't ask for your ID on the door? No, my wife said don't say anything. I was about to. Why not? Oh, no, no. I think they don't understand. These are the soldiers. If I say something, then they're surprised. Are you joking? This is not a place to joke. They will not believe it. They will not believe I'm the great-grandson of King An, and nobody will stay like this. Only those who are not with the... So this is the situation. So Win lives by the railway in the country's largest city, Yangon. Thousands pass by his house every day, unaware of the royal and her mist. My classmates, they're always joking with me. Hey, when are you going to take back the palace? They encourage me. Hey, you have to fight for it. They are telling in front of others. Hey, he's the great-grandson of King Deewar. And everyone's looking and see. Everybody, you know, this moustache man, he's the great-grandson of King Deewar. And he's going to take back the royal palace. Is this true? It's very embarrassing. What I found interesting was that a lot of people had no idea what had happened to their royal family. I was intrigued that the king had been exiled not too far away from where I live, and that I knew nothing about it. I know that the third generation from King Deewar is still alive, not all of them, but a couple of them. I think a lot of ordinary people don't even know that descendants and members of the immediate royal family are still around. But again, this was something that was very submerged and very hidden for quite a long time over the late 20th century. There were just so many stories, stories within stories. The incredible twists and turns their lives took was, I mean, really stranger than any credible work of fiction that one could have written. The position of the monarchy was all-pervading. I mean, they were regarded as demigods, ruler of the land and sea, lord of the rising sun, king of all the umbrella-bearing chiefs, master of many white elephants. Everything they ate was out of gold bowls, gold spoons. Even the spittoon they spat into was made of solid gold. It was an institution that had lasted for so many centuries. So it was in the psyche of the people. It was a militant, aggressive in many ways, expansionist power that dominated the entire landscape from Bhutan to Malaya, until they realized that there was another regional power, the British East India Company, which was expanding fast in India. The Third Anglo-Burmese War lasted only a couple of weeks, but the pacification of the country lasted many years and cost thousands of lives and the displacements of tens of thousands of other people. So it was a violent transition. This is a cartoon from Punch magazine, made in 1885, of the British soldier booting out a drunken Tibor with his brandy bottle falling off as he's booted out. Sad thing is King Tibor never drank. He was just portrayed as a drunken to justify England's reason for throwing out an incapable king. In the morning, they were told that the British forces had arrived in Mandalay. That night, probably nobody slept in the palace. I think it was a huge shock to them when they realized that the British was not accepting their armistice request. I don't think the British had imagined that they would depose the king so quickly. So no preparation had been made for his exile. Where would he be sent? Where would the long term stay be? No house had been prepared. So they said, we want King Tibor in a place where he's going to be safe, well looked after, and completely forgotten. In those days, the only access to Ratnagiri was by ship. And four months of the year, it was totally cut off because of the monsoons. As one of the British officers put it, only the most intrepid traveler would go to Ratnagiri to see the king. He died of a broken heart, I feel. The queen wanted to carry him back to Burma. But the British didn't want that. So they decided that he had to be entombed in a permanent tomb in Ratnagiri. And they selected this site. And they insisted that he be entombed before she left the shores of India. Queen Supyanath was entombed in Rangoon. And I think the family still feels that it's not a final entombment. This is the tomb where the last queen was buried. Hardly anyone knows that she came back at all. Let alone that she's been buried in the heart of Yangon for more than 90 years. But Sowin's cousin, Devi, is the queen's great-granddaughter. And she's grown up next door. We are the royals. But that royal blood is for people and for our country. We have a duty to do because that blood is running in our blood. I want to talk freely as princess. But for me alone, I have to create my own space, you see, as an environmentalist. Like her cousin Sowin, not being on a throne hasn't dampened Devi's sense of duty. I shall be called Queen Princess. We are the human beings. So we must look after our home. This is the Earth planet. We don't know if we'll be able to return to this Earth. But I am sure we will be able to return as soon as possible. Our royal family is living with poverty. You see, new generations, they don't know. We don't know, there is a Queen's tomb here, you see, and what's the last king of Burma named also. In Thailand, they love their king. And in England, in Japan, all the monarchies countries, they mention. But that is the history, we are born with the history. It's right or wrong, we have to accept. So Nguyen has made it his life's mission to bring the last king of Burma home. At first I could see why, it felt like the natural thing to do. But I soon found out things weren't that simple. One day it has to be moved. Maybe next generation, or maybe my grandson's generation. But it has to be moved. It's our duty. We are the only living memory of the last king. If we didn't, who will do that? It's not the right time. My first cousin, Uso Nguyen, he came along and said, we're going to put this issue on the parliament. I said, no brother. We can't do even the union in our country. You discussed this with David Tan Sen? That's why I didn't get the answer. But before that, we discussed and he said, don't do that. I said, I will. It's my duty. It's not the time. If all is completely at peace, then his body should come along. But not in this time. We have so many problems. It's important for the people here to know their history. You have so many kids today, and young people in their 20s and 30s who know almost nothing about the history of this country beyond a few lines that they might remember from school. Who was the last king of Burma? One at a time. Where are the people now? He's gone. Very good. It's deeply unhelpful, the way in which history is taught. History has been so devalued and so linked to political agenda in this country. People's connection to their past is lost. It's important in any country. But in a country where people are really trying to think about what their options are, what they want to see 20, 30 years down the road in terms of the way in which their country and society evolves, I think it's an indispensable thing for people to have a more nuanced and complex sense of their history. The emotional power of the royal family was always a threat to the country's rulers. And those in charge worked hard to keep them out of the spotlight. But the government was finally relaxing its grit, and they'd given the family permission to gather publicly in the old royal capital of Mandalay. It was a rare outing for the king's only surviving granddaughter, 94-year-old Aunty Sue. Life is a very complicated matter. My grandparents were the king and the queen of Burma. And then the annexation came. My parents were in trouble. The Japanese came. They were in trouble. And people were shot and slapped and these things, you know. And seeing all this miserable life, I just took life as it came. I didn't sort of repent on anything. This is the first time that we have the opportunity to do this. The other years, we were not permitted to do it. Nobody is trying to re-erect the monarchy. We don't want any more trouble in the country, especially from the royal family. I'm very happy. Even after the British left in 1948, Burma's royals learned that spending time together attracted unwelcome government attention. Aunty Sue and her 93-year-old brother, Taupiar, have spent most of their lives living far apart. So they had a bit of catching up to do. If the word Toh is there, that means there's something royal about it. My name is Taupiar. At once they know. Burmese are still mad about their kings. You go anywhere in Upper Burma and ask, people still go and pay their respects to the throne. Now you're looking younger. These faces, see all our relatives, descendants, and this is my very first time to be with them. You're sat here at the front, which makes you quite special. Yes, because we are the only surviving direct descendants. We don't know when we're going to pop up. Let me tell you, my sister-in-law's wife is leaving. That's why I tell daily, let me go where I want to go before I come. Taupiar, you must stand straight there. Sit straight there. You must sit straight there. This is only the beginning, I believe. Before, this kind of occasion is not much recognized by the authorities. It was a rare day in the spotlight for the family. Watching them, it struck me how even now, 130 years after the annexation, this country was still dealing with the legacy of a British act of war that almost no one in my country even knew about. In 1948, after over a century of interfering in Burma, Britain rapidly withdrew, leaving a nation divided and traumatized. Burma's new leaders faced the enormous task of uniting the many ethnic and religious groups. The country quickly descended into civil war, and in 1962, a young general emerged promising to restore order and unite the nation. The bureaucracy he built dominated politics for half a century, but it failed to put an end to the fighting which still rages today. At the core of modern Burmese politics has been this negative reaction to the way in which people felt the country was pulled into the 20th century. There was a desire to go back to something that people thought was authentic and pre-colonial. The military regime that took over in 1962, though it was an extreme version of that, it did reflect this wider sentiment of wanting to put the Burmese back in charge of the country. We've lived nearly 60 years in the dark days. There is no trust. There is no light. We can't do anything. So now, the road to democratic country, we have to build. In 2015, Burma held its first credible election in more than 50 years. The country was pinning its hopes on veteran democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi to lead her party to power after almost two decades under house arrest. People across the country seized their chance to have a say in how their country was run. You woke up very early? Yes. After this, he's going to sleep again. Usually, they wake up very late. He's already voted. Can't go again. Cannot. The election was a big step forward. But while fighting across the country goes on, the military will continue to hold the balance of power in a system known as disciplined democracy. In the voice of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, General Min Aung Hlaing still carries huge weight. I am a Burmese citizen. Despite reservations, the election ushered in a level of freedom and opportunity the Burmese hadn't known in decades. For Soe Win, that meant one thing. It was time to go to India and start work on bringing his great-grandfather home at last. How are you feeling about going to Burma? Oh, I think... I think... It's not a vacation. It's a kind of never-ending story that we wish to end. Not in a tragic way. To make everybody happy. Myanmar, India and British also. It's my fifth or sixth time, I think. Checking, rechecking. This is a never-ending mission, I can believe. Of course, the more you are involved, the more you have to do. Lions never eat grass. They would rather die if there is nothing to eat. This is the kind of spirit in our family. Soe Win and his family made this journey once before in the darkest days of military rule. The government swore them to secrecy and these family tapes remained hidden until now. In 1993, we performed the last rites that was not performed when my great-grandfather passed away. There are no gates. The big trees coming out from the tombs. It was in an unimaginable state that is about to be demolished or disappear. This belongs to our history. In our history also. These are the floor plans of the royal residence to which King Timor moved. It's quite a grand building. It was on 27 acres of land. There were 16 spacious rooms. The king by then had been so beaten into submission that he called it the palace. I feel at home. Because these settings are very familiar with me. Do you see these chairs? These are the original ones. Oh, yes. May I sit down for a while? Just to pose. Okay. This is the way that... like this. Very majestic seats. The last king of Burma was buried in a run-down corner of Ratnagiri. Next to his tomb stands an empty shell intended for his eldest daughter who died here, leaving a new Indian branch of the royal family behind. Her ashes were last seen in the local tax office and the family is still searching for them. Ordinarily, I do not want to be a royal. To become a royal, you have a lot of responsibilities. But I cannot be denied that because the blood inside me reminded me just now. I got the feeling. Your Majesty, let us leave from here. We will be here again very soon. Please follow up to your return to your home. Every year, the family holds a secret ceremony in Yangon to mark Pardhamun, the day when King Thibault was sent into exile and Burma was changed forever. Our last king and queen had been sent to Ratnagiri by British government. I was just a part of it. But December 2016 marked 100 years since the king died in India. And in this centenary year, Soe Win was granted permission to hold a special ceremony at the Golden Palace in Mandalay, the place where the exile story began. It was a bit of a change from having to show his ID at the door just two years earlier. This is the place where the country was lost. We lost everything since 1885 because they came here and took the country by force. You can call it the warring British. Tomorrow is the 131st Pardhamun Day. We never held this kind of ceremony before in this year. This will be the very first time we will hold this kind of ceremony in our country. This is the first time we will hold this kind of ceremony in our country. This will be the very first time we will hold this kind of ceremony in our country. Your dad seems to be really enjoying himself. Yes, yes, yes. He's very excited. He's been waiting for this day as well. So would you call this a normal family reunion? Yes, I guess so. Grand family reunion? More proper phrase, I guess. Before, we were not even thinking of asking permission because it's never going to happen. But nowadays, there are many changes. This was a historic milestone for the Royal Family. But watching so win, I was starting to wonder how the rest of the family felt about this day. Going forward, that's a step-by-step. Of course, my dad's ambition is a long-term ambition. My father, right now, he probably seems as if they have diverted. But in a way, when times comes, I think they will mutually walk away. Inspired by the success of the day, So Win decided to take the whole family to India His parents informed him they were coming too. And so was the head of the armed forces. But now, I think it's becoming bigger and bigger. I just met one of the senior monks who is accompanying us. That's why we are late. This is the history for our country, for the centenary. To oversee the Padamu ceremony that she always had. But try as she might, she couldn't avoid the excitement that was building around the family. My name is My family is the Padamu family. My name is Wai Mok. the Padamu family. I am a woman who has a husband and a son. I am a woman and a son. I am a woman family left for India. They got together at Sowin's house. Devi had to pull out of the trip on the last minute on health ground, but she'd come to say her farewells. It was the first time she'd spoken to Sowin since her announcement on Pardharu day. So, are we ready? Any last minute worries? No more. Of course, not many. Oh my, from morning till evening. Many worries, because I am very worried. You take your worries on your own, brother. No, no, no. You know why? Because these worries are very important. If I cannot solve, anything will happen. This is the way that we have to do it. For what? For your family. No, not for me. For my country. This entire family is for the country, not for me. There's nothing for me. We have to... For the right time, brother. It's not yet. No, no. It's my time. You know why? I'm already 70. I cannot work another two or three years. So, you told that you are 70, so you are doing for yourself, not for the country. No. Majority want to bring back. Majority want to bring back. No, brother. If you want peace for the whole world, you can't carry back our great-grandfather's body here. Because, you see, my point of view is very different from everyone. You must, first of all, you have to make your country wealthy and rich. Then we are 100 years over there. No, no, not for us. For our next, next, next. I don't know. We are not fully democratic country yet. We are only sunny. Everybody is saying democracy. This is very fancy word. Actually, I do not understand what democracy is. Really, I do not understand. Why? Because I was in state, I know the American system of how their government are running in America and also in your place, all over the world. I do not like party politics. Really. Because party is for the power. So, what you are going to substitute to develop our country? What is the system? The monarchy? We must choose it. Because, okay, I think of that. Do you have any idea? Yes, I've got the idea of my own. Can you explain and brief on that? Please, kindly, and I will answer my own. I'm based on human. Buddhist or Islam or Christian or black or white or leftist or rightist. I don't know. I base it on human. Oh, you are too high. Oh, but why? Too high. No, we are all humans. Why that you call too high? You might be a saint. We want this country to be strong, to have our own system, to value ourselves. We need to work together very closely among our Myanmar people. Because Myanmar has many nationalities. Why are you fighting each other? You know who started this? The then British. Sorry. Bye-bye. They have to mention many stories, I think. No, no, no. Watching you two have very different opinions. You are still in the family. Why not? This is the natural. We are the cousin, only first cousin. From same family, there are different ways of ideas, thinking. This is called unity and diversity. Because we have to be united, but we have diversity in our thinking. What would you say that you agree on? The betterment of this country, yes. On our own way. Because he is an internationalist. I am Myanmar. I want to work only for Myanmar. Really. This is a very big, different platform. This is a very different, big platform. It's only working for Myanmar. So, what will you choose? Only for the little Myanmar, or the whole world? After we gained independence, there was one very big movement to bring back the Prime Minister, who decided to donate 50,000 kyat, I think, for the donation for that cause. You know what happened? The then British Ambassador informed the then Prime Minister, who knew? You know what phrase he used? The British Ambassador. He said, the speaking dog lies. After a lifetime of anonymity, Soe Win flew into a military airstrip with the most powerful man in the country, General Min Aung Hlaing, accompanied by dozens of the country's top soldiers, politicians and holy men, all there to mark the centenary of his great grandfather's death. In one way, I think, to see the repatriation of King Thibault's remains, to have a proper burial, if for no other reason than to see a royal funeral, and to see the ritual and the imagery that would go with that, would be very interesting. I don't think it would necessarily be an unwelcome thing. Whether it would be the best thing, I don't think is the question. Senior General wishes to bring back home. Vice President and Senior General, he said, why not bring this back home? Yes, we are trying for many years. Okay, let's do it. The day of the centenary had finally arrived, and the town was buzzing with press and police, all keen to hear what Soe Win had to say. My question is to Mr. Soe Win. In the morning we met one of the visitors who said that they are planning to take the remains of the Raja to Myanmar. Are there any plans like that? As a person, I'd like to take it back. From the very beginning, they did not want to come here, but they were being forced to. This is a kind of a human situation. We love everything. I'd like to make another question to you. If you were in my place, what would you say? It was exactly a hundred years ago that the last king of Burma died here, thousands of miles from home. When I first started following the story of the Burmese royal family, I thought it would be a story about the past. But now I realise this wasn't history at all. Britain's legacy in this corner of the world is still raw, and the next chapter of our shared story was being written right in front of me. The impact of the exile of the king was huge on Burma. Having a king on the throne was a sense of security, a sense of who they were. It led to a lot of unrest, a lot of loss of identity, their religion being violated. Institutions that had existed for generations, suddenly everything disappeared. For the Burmese, the royal period in a way reminds them of the failure of the country to stand up against colonial aggression. Yet, there's almost nothing else to go back to if one is looking for a sort of non-colonial model of what the country can be. When you have a foreign country coming and occupying a country, it creates a break with the path of the natural. I think because Burma's colonial experience was in some ways so traumatic, you see there's much more severe reactions to colonialism than one sees in almost any other part of the exodus. This is the place where my great-grandfather used to see the Arabian Sea from this point for the rest of his life. The place of no return. I do not want to walk internationally or to human beings. It's too far or too high. It's very simple. If the country's future is bright, we all will be bright. We are part of the country. We are part of the citizens. We are just a simple family. We can say before we are the lost tribe. Not anymore now. Now in the 21st century, we must understand each other. We don't hate. Myself, I mostly can hate the British, but not the British people. Only the one group who has earned for the power. Those days. Not the British people. People are singing. Do you like to bring back the monarchy? No. It's not the time. It's the 21st century. But the new generations must learn the histories, the countries, the kings and queens. You must not forget. I don't want to be a king. Nobody is asking me to be a king yet. But if, I do not want to go. If. So there is no way of going to the level of if. I don't want to restore monarchy. Because our country has suffered a lot. There has never been an inclusive identity that has been allowed to emerge in this country. If that is not corrected in some way, you may see an end to the armed conflict, but I think we will still not have the kind of society that will be able to cope with a lot of the problems to come. Awareness of the royal family in Burma would help people understand their past. It's a reclamation of history which is possible now, which was not possible under many years of military rule. We always wanted the kings and queens' bodies to be brought back. But what to do? Times have changed. Things have changed. People's outlook has changed. So let them lie in peace. I always wear flowers in my hair, especially jasmine. My mother told me, if you don't have jasmine, at least wear a flower. One flower in your hair, you will look more royal. So I always have. Not because I want to be a royalty, but because I want to be pretty.