Wan Waithayakon

Who was Wan Waithayakon?

Wan Waithayakon, known in the West as Wan Waithayakon, was a Thai diplomat. He was elected President of the Eleventh Session of the United Nations General Assembly, while serving as Thailand's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He was a grandson of King Mongkut.

He is a graduate of Oxford University and the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and began his vocational career as a foreign service officer in 1917. He was appointed advisor to King Rama VI in 1922. In 1924, he was promoted to the rank of Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and was responsible for negotiating several important amendments to political and commercial treaties with Western powers.

He was sent to Europe again in 1926 as Minister accredited to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium. During that period, he also served as head of the Thai delegation to the League of Nations, where he was active in a number of important commissions as member, vice-president and president. Prince Wan returned to Thailand in 1930, to accept a professorial chair at the Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.