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Sisavang Vatthana () or sometimes Savang Vatthana (full title: Samdach Brhat Chao Mavattaha Sri Vitha Lan Xang Hom Khao Phra Rajanachakra Lao Phengdara Parama Sidha Khattiya Suriya Varman Brhat Maha Sri Savangsa Vadhana; 13 November 1907 – 13 May 1978) was the last monarch of the Kingdom of Laos and the 6th prime minister of Laos serving from 29 October to 21 November 1951. He ruled from 1959 after his father's death until his forced abdication in 1975. His rule ended with the takeover by the Pathet Lao in 1975, after which he and his family were sent to a Internment by the Laos.
On 7 August 1930, he married Queen Khamphoui and they had five children, Crown Prince Vong Savang, Prince Sisavang Savang, Prince Sauryavong Savang, Princess Savivanh Savang, and Princess Thala Savang. The family played tennis together, and liked to attend major tournaments on their travels abroad. The prince was also a devout Buddhist and became an authority on the Sangha, and would later take his role as protector of the state religion seriously.
During World War II, he represented his father with the Japanese forces. His father sent him to the Japanese headquarters in Saigon, where he vigorously protested about the Japanese actions, when they invaded Laos and forced them to declare independence from France.
The king was active in politics as he was trying to stabilize Laos after the political turmoil started with the Geneva Conference of July 1954, which granted full independence to the country but did not settle the issue of who would rule. As a result, the position of prime minister was disputed between three princes: Prince Souvanna Phouma, a neutralist, operated from Vientiane, whose claim was recognized by the Soviet Union; Prince Boun Oum of Champassak in the south, right-wing and pro-United States, dominated the Pakse area and was recognized as prime minister by the US; and in the far north, Prince Souphanouvong led the leftist Pathet Lao resistance movement, drawing support from North Vietnam and having his claim backed of the Communists. To avoid argument over whether any of the three princes was the "legitimate" Prime Minister, all sides would deal through the pro-Western king.
In 1961, a majority of the National Assembly had already voted Boun Oum into power and the king left Luang Prabang, visiting the capital to give the new government his blessing. In 1962, the king formed a coalition government which soon collapsed. In March 1963, accompanied by his prime minister, Souvanna Phouma, the king toured 13 countries signatory to the Geneva Conference that guaranteed the "neutrality" of the Kingdom of Laos on "diplomatic missions", starting with the USSR, where he received gifts of GAZ-13 "Chaika" limousines, before meeting US president John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C.
In 1964, a series of coups and countercoups resulted in the final alignment of the Pathet Lao on one side and the neutralist and right-wing factions on the other. From this point, the Pathet Lao refused to join any offers of coalition or national elections and the Laotian Civil War began.
In 1978, the government reported that Vatthana, Queen Khamphoui, and Crown Prince Vong Savang had died from malaria. The World Press Review reported that they had suffered from the effects of forced labor and starvation. More recent accounts suggest that the King died in mid-March 1980. However, according to Kaysone Phomvihane, Vatthana died in 1984, at the age of 77. Laos " Le roi est mort ", Le Monde. 16 December 1989, p. 7. accessed on October 8, 2006. Following the deaths of Vatthana and the Crown Prince, the King's youngest son, Sauryavong Savang, became the head of the Laotian royal family, acting as regent for his nephew Crown Prince, Soulivong Savang, until the regent died in Paris in 2018.
| married Mahneelai |
| married Mangkhala Manivong |
| married Sisouphanouvong Sisaleumsak |
| married Dalavan |
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