Half-Ukrainian prince from Thailand called Cornwall his home
Prince Chula was refused entry to a Temperance Hall in a Cornish village for trying to bring in alcohol
A member of the Thai royal family, who had a Ukrainian mother, was a popular member of a Cornish community for 20 years - though he probably wished he'd never taken alcohol to a local Temperance Hall.
Prince Chula Chakrabongse was a member of the Chakri dynasty of Thailand and of the House of Chakkraphong. He was the only child of Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath and his Ukrainian wife Ekaterina 'Katya' Desnitskaya, who was a nurse known as the 'Russian Princess of Siam'.
Prince Chula turned his back on royal pomp and lived a more modest life with his English wife at Tredethy House in St Mabyn, near Wadebridge, in the 1940s and 1950s.
Read more: Ukrainians fled to Cornwall to escape Russian persecution
The grandson of King Chulalongkorn, also known as King Rama V of Siam, the king was appalled by his son's marriage to a European woman and refused to meet her. Two years later, in 1908, Prince Chula was born in Bangkok and the king relented, particularly as his grandson looked more Thai than European.
Prince Chula was given the title Mom Chao (His Serene Highness). Later his uncle, King Vajiravudh, gave him the higher rank of Phra Chao Worawong Thoe Phra Ong Chao (His Royal Highness Prince) and changed his name to Chunlachakkraphong. Palace officials affectionately called him "the Little Prince".
Chula spent most of his youth in Britain, where he attended Harrow School and graduated with a Bachelors and Masters from Trinity College, University of Cambridge. There is a granite drinking bowl at Mitchem’s Corner in Cambridge, donated in 1934 in memory of Prince Chula’s dog called Tony.
In 1938 he married Elizabeth 'Lisba' Hunter, an English woman and their daughter, Mom Rajawongse Narisa Chakrabhongse, known as Narisa, was born 18 years later. After spending the first few years of her life in Cornwall, Narisa is now a well-known media personality in Thailand and is on the board of the Anglo-Thai Society, promoting good relations and cultural links between Thailand and the UK.
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Her son and Prince Chula's grandson is Hugo Chakrabongse Levy, an actor and singer-songwriter who was based in New York and signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label, after his song Disappear was featured on Beyoncé's album I Am... Sasha Fierce. He is best known for his bluegrass re-working of Jay-Z's 99 Problems. A second cousin once removed of the King of Thailand, King Vajiralongkorn, Hugo is now based in Bangkok.
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Not a lot has been recorded of Prince Chula's 20 years in Cornwall, but he did continue his successful writing career here - and got told off.
A few years ago Noreen Honey, a resident of Port Isaac, recalled when her aunt 'banned' the prince from entering the village's Temperance Hall with alcohol.
She said: "My aunt used to organise big dances in the Temperance Hall and this particular time this Prince Chula came right up the back with a big crate of drinks, alcohol, and she said ‘I’m sorry you can’t come in.’ He said ‘Do you know who I am?’
"She said ‘I don’t care if you’re the King of England, you won’t be coming in’ and she didn’t let him in. He couldn’t believe it. But it was no alcohol because it was the Temperance Hall. She would’ve got in trouble."
Prince Chula supervised an international motor racing team called White Mouse Racing and his cousin Prince Birabongse Bhanudej, known as B Bira, was one of its most famous drivers.
Chula was the author of 13 books, including a history of the Chakri Dynasty, a biography about the racing car driver Dick Seaman and an autobiography. He died of cancer in 1963 in Thailand at the age of 55.
