National Social Welfare Day in Thailand Date in the current year: October 21, 2024

Princess Srinagarindra was born Sangwan Chukramol on October 21, 1900. Orphaned at a young age, she became a nursing student at the age of 13 and started working as a nurse at a hospital at the age of 16. In 1917, she was granted a scholarship to continue her nursing studies in the United States. While there, she met Prince Mahidol Adulyadej, then a student at Harvard Medical School.

Prince Mahidol and Sangwan fell in love and got engaged in 1919. They got married a year later and returned to the United States to continue their respective studies. The couple had three children: Princess Galyani Vadhana, Prince Ananda Mahidol (future king Rama VIII), and Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej (future King Rama IX).

In 1929, Prince Mahidol died, and Sangwan was left a widow. By 1932, all of her children had started school, and Sangwan found herself with more time on her hands that she could dedicate to various social welfare projects. She started by setting up an American-style sewing circle for close acquaintances. At first, the members of the sewing circle made their own clothes, but eventually they switched to sewing clothes for poor children at hospitals.

Following the abdication of King Prajadhipok in 1935, Prince Ananda Mahidol was declared the new king, and Sangwan became the princess mother. For the next several decades, she funded various social welfare projects with her own money. The princess mother regularly purchased clothes, food, medicine, and other times for poor villagers and distributed them during her upcountry visits.

She also established several foundations, most notably the New Life Foundation catering to people recovering from mental illness or leprosy and the Border Patrol Police Support Foundation. Apart from the princess mother’s personal funds, the money for her many projects came from the sales of handmade wares made and sold through projects modeled after the princess’s sewing circle.

The princess mother also established a number of educational and public health projects. She set up schools in remote areas, provided scholarships to send students for postgraduate studies abroad, founded the Thailand Nursing Association, established medical volunteer mobile units that treated people in rural areas free of charge, and launched environmental conservation initiatives. Thanks to the princess mother, people from hill tribes received access to primary education and free healthcare.

In 1985, the government of Thailand designated the Princess Mother’s birthday as National Social Welfare Day to highlight the importance of her social welfare projects, especially in remote areas populated by hill tribes. The holiday is also known as Thai Volunteers Day. Since 1990, the birthday of Princess Srinagarindra has also been observed as National Nurses’ Day to recognize her contributions to the development of nursing in Thailand.