27 Facts About Supayalat

Supayalat was married to her half-brother, Thibaw, who became the last king of the Konbaung dynasty in 1878, upon Mindon Min's death.

Supayalat executed Daing Khin Khin, the secret concubine of King Thibaw, even though she was pregnant.

In Burmese history, Supayalat is remembered for her ego, cruelty, and excessive pride, serving as the figure held responsible for the kingdom's fall into the hands of the imperialists.

Supayalat became the embodiment of a Burmese proverb: "A woman can bring ruin to a kingdom".

Supayalat was born on 13 December 1859 at the Royal Palace, in Mandalay as Hteik Supayalat, was the second of three daughters of King Mindon and Hsinbyumashin.

Supayalat received the appanage of Tabayin, Manle and later Myadaung was therefore known as the Princess of Myadaung, with the royal title of Siri Suriya Prabha Ratana Devi.

Supayalat attained the top position among King Mindon's daughters as the firstborn following the establishment of Mandalay Palace.

Supayalat was however learned in the Buddhist scriptures and educated by the missionary Dr Marks, and became one of Mindon's favourite sons.

The ambitious Hsinbyumashin, after putting Thibaw on the throne, offered Supayagyi to be his queen, but during the royal wedding ceremony Supayalat pushed in next to her sister to be anointed queen at the same time, breaking ancient custom.

Supayalat was 19 and Thibaw 20 when they ascended the lion throne.

Supayalat advocated for war with the British and consistently rejected any peace process with them.

Supayalat resisted efforts by reformist ministers to limit royal authority, particularly in matters related to royal spending.

Western historians have documented that Queen Supayalat often rewarded her favorite servants, court musicians, dancers, and entertainers with significant amounts of gold and jewelry.

Supayalat never lost her composure, and was said to have asked a British soldier by the wayside for a light to smoke a Burmese cheroot.

Supayalat was pregnant and accompanied by her husband, their two daughters, her two sisters, and her mother; the rest of their party followed on foot.

Supayalat gave birth to her fourth and youngest daughter in 1887; they were not given a proper residence commensurate with their status until 1911 when Thibaw Palace was built by the government.

When King Thibaw died in 1916 at the age of 58 after 30 years in exile, Supayalat fought in vain for the right to take her husband's body back to be buried with proper funeral rites in Burma.

Supayalat refused to give up the bodies of both her sister and her husband, buried in the grounds of their palace, to the authorities who eventually took them by force to be buried in Ratnagiri in 1919.

Supayalat returned to Rangoon in 1919, confining her under house arrest.

Supayalat was never allowed to leave her home, which was under constant observation by the police.

Supayalat had lived on a pension and in her last days her closest adviser was Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, the great writer and nationalist leader, who revered her for her defiant stand against colonialism and who had witnessed at the age of nine the fall of the monarchy and the abduction of the royal couple in Mandalay.

Supayalat disdained British rule to the end, never regarded herself as beholden to the British who she believed robbed her of her kingdom with all the wealth and riches therein.

Supayalat shunned British products and any association with her country's colonial rulers.

Supayalat died from a heart attack in 1925, just before her 66th birthday.

Supayalat's funeral was held with pomp and ceremony as befitted a Burmese queen, organised by the Saophas of Yaunghwe and Thibaw.

Supayalat's body lay in state, shielded under eight white royal umbrellas, attended by 90 Buddhist monks and the British governor Sir Harcourt Butler with a guard of honour of the Mounted Police complete with a 30 gun salute.

Supayalat lies buried at Kandawmin Garden Mausolea near the Shwedagon Pagoda between the tombs of Khin Kyi, mother of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, and the former UN secretary general U Thant.