The Sad Story Of Myanmar's Last King | Burma's Lost Royals | Timeline

[Music] I first came to Burma a decade ago to study its history it's a story in which my country Britain is in many ways the villain so it was surprising when after decades in the shadows Burma's royal family decided to share their story with an English [Music] my name is Misha wing and great-grandson of King people the last king of Burma my great-grandfather losses Kingdom and was exiled with his family to India 100 years after he died is still entombed in India British government refused permission for him to be transported Oh [Applause] [Applause] I'm your man I want to walk only for women this country was giving as a present to Queen Victoria it's a new year present we just imagine this is a country not a thing to give us a present now we are gaining some dignity but we have lost before [Applause] I first met so win in 2014 when he was managing the national under-19 football team after decades is a civil servant he seemed almost defined by national duty and as I got to know more about him it wasn't hard to see why if history had taken a different course so win would be the king of Burma today this is wooden palace this way our great-grandfather was excised this is the story very good beginning not the very good end we call it golden palace but actually this is rebuilt reconstructed not always the one already the ones who had just tried in second world war do you think they've done a good job I'm not happy to be wrong but then I tried to accommodate and try to help you but I personally I do not want to be here [Music] since 1885 the palace grounds have been used as a military base first by the occupying British and now by the country's armed forces when I came in I have to give my identity and I very disappointed yes Nick I will not come again next time so you have a worry that they wouldn't let you in no I'm very confident they cannot do that but you prefer that they didn't ask for your ID on the to know my my wife said don't say anything I was about to understand soldiers if I see something I think they were surprised are you choking hey this is not a place to joke you will not believe it and they will not believe I am great-grandson of the King and and who nobody will see like this only those who are not with the so this is the situation so when there's by the railway in the country's largest city Yangon thousands pass by his house every day unaware of the Royal in their midst my classmate they always choking me hey when I go to take back their Palace they encourage me you have to fight for it they are telling in front of others he's big grandson of King Bebo and everybody's looking Enzi worried you know this moustache man he's a great-grandson of King before and he's going to take back the royal palace the truth very embarrassing [Music] for me what was interesting was that a lot of people had no idea what had happened to their royal family I was intrigued that the King had been exiled not too far away from where I live and that I knew nothing about it [Music] I know that the third generation from kinky ball is still alive I love them but a couple of them I think a lot of ordinary people don't even know that descendants and members of the immediate royal family are still around but again this was something that was very submerged and very hidden for quite a long time over the late 20th century there were just so many stories stories within stories the incredible twists and turns their lives took was I mean really stranger than any credible work of fiction that one could have written the position of the monarchy was all pervading I mean they were regarded as demigods ruler of the land and sea Lord of the Rising Sun King of all the umbrella bearing Chiefs master of many white elephants everything they ate was out of gold balls gold spoons even the spittoon they spat in jewels made of solid gold that was an institution that had lasted for so many centuries so it was in the psyche of the people it was a militant aggressive in many ways expansionist power that dominated the entire landscape from Bhutan to Malaya until they realized that there was another regional power of the British East India Company which was expanding fast in India the third anglo-burmese war lasts only a couple of weeks but the pacification of the country lasted many years and cost thousands of lives that the displacement of tens of thousands other people's was a violent transition this is a cartoon from punch magazine made in 1885 of the British soldier booting out a drunken tebow with his brandy bottle falling our forces booted out sad thing is King Timor never drank he was just portrayed as a drunk and to justify England's reason for throwing out a incapable King [Music] in the morning they were told that the British forces had arrived in Mandalay that night probably nobody slept in the palace I think it was a huge shock to them when they realized that the British was not accepting their armistice you know requests I don't think the British had imagined that they would depose the King so quickly so no preparation had been made for his exile where would he be sent where would the long term stay be no house had been prepared so they said me wanting Thibault in a place where he's going to be safe well looked after and completely forgotten [Music] those days the only access to Rukmini was by ship and four months of the year it was totally cut off because of the monsoons as one of the British officers put it only the most intrepid traveler would go to her at Langara to see the king he died of a broken heart I feel the Queen wanted to carry him back to Burma but the British didn't want that so they decided that he had to be entombed in a permanent tomb in Ratna Gilly and they selected the site and they insisted that he be entombed before she left the shores of India quit sappy Anathoth was entombed in Raghu and I think the family still feels that it's not a final entombment this is the tune where the last Queen was buried hardly anyone knows that she came back at all let alone that she's been buried in the heart of Yangon for more than 90 years but so when's cousin devi is the Queen's great granddaughter and she's grown up next door we all arise but that drug lodges for people and for our country we have a duty to tooth because that blood is running in our body I want to talk freely yes princess but for me alone I have to trade my own space you see as an environmentalist [Music] like her cousin so when not being on a throne hasn't dampened devyse sense of duty I shall be called green princess we are the human beings so we must look after our home this is the earth planet tomorrow engines are active inside our name Michael taught him Maho bamboo nylon donut you do - I am a time gg-get Kannamma come on Molly aha I'm a dance teacher kanna-chan Avari our royal families is living with poverty you see new generations don't know there is a queen tools here we see and what's the last king of Burma named also in Thailand they love their king and in England in Japan all the monarchies countries they mentioned but that's as a history we are born with the history it's right or wrong we have to accept so win has made it his life's mission to bring the last king of Burma home at first I could see why it felt like the natural thing to do but I soon found out things weren't that simple one day it'd have to be moved maybe nation edition maybe my like grandsons generation but have to be moved it's our duty we are the only living memories of the last king if we didn't who will do that it's not the right time my first cousin I'm sowwy he came along and said we're going to put this issue on the Parliament I said your brother we can't do even the Union in our in our country you discussed this with David tons in that's why then you got the answer got an answer but the food that we discussed and he said don't do that I said I will it's my duty it's not the time if all is completely peace then he should sheesh his body should come wrong but not in this time we have so many problems [Music] it's important for the people here to know their history you have so many kids today and young people in their 20s and 30s who know almost nothing about the history of this country beyond a few lines that they might remember from school [Music] [Music] [Music] it's deeply unhelpful the way in which history is taught history has been so devalued and so linked to political agenda in this country people's connection to their past is lost it's important in any country but in a country where people are really trying to think about what their options are what they want to see 20 30 years down the road in terms of the way in which their country's society evolves I think it's it's it's indispensable thing for people to have a more nuanced and complex sense of their history [Music] the emotional power of the royal family was always a threat to the country's rulers and those in charge worked hard to keep them out of the spotlight but the government was finally relaxing its grip and they're given the family permission to gather publicly in the old royal capital of Mandalay it was a rare outing for the Kings only surviving granddaughter 94 year old aunty sue life is a very complicated matter my grandparents were the king and the queen of Burma and the annexation came my parents were in trouble the Japanese came they were in trouble and the people were shot and slapped and these things you know and seeing this all this a miserable life I just took life as it came I didn't I didn't sort of repent on anything this is the first time that we have the opportunity to do this the other years we we were not permitted to do it nobody is trying to redirect the monarchism we don't want any more troubles in the country it's really from the royal family [Music] [Laughter] [Music] yeah even after the British left in 1948 Burma's Royals learned that spending time together attracted unwelcome government attention auntie sue and her 93 year old brother tour PR has spent most of their lives living far apart so they had a bit of catching up to do if the word tow is there then with something royal about it my name is taka so our job is a royalty and once you know Berman's are still mad above their kings you go anywhere in Alabama and ask people still go and pay respect to the throne see all happy faces they are our relatives descendants and this is my very first time to be with them you will some here at the front which makes you quite special here we are the only surviving direct descendant we don't know when we will pop up my sister passed over White's maybe that's why I do do we let me go where I want to go before I die stand straight she's treated it too much sit straight [Music] this is only the beginning I believe before this kind of occasions is not much recognized by the authorities it was a rare day in the spotlight for the family watching them it struck me how even now a hundred and thirty years after the annexation this country was still dealing with the legacy of a British act of war that almost no one in my country even knew about in 1948 after over a century of interfering in Burma Britain rapidly withdrew leaving a nation divided and traumatized assembly representing the people of Burma have decided future should lie outside Burma's new leaders faced the enormous task of uniting the many ethnic and religious groups the country quickly descended into civil war and in 1962 a young general emerged promising to restore order and unite the nation the bureaucracy he built dominated politics for half a century but it failed to put an end to the fighting which still rages today he was a real test what took everything into his hands I knew him as a colonel he was I mean more liberal then but then he he had the taste of power and power corrupts at the core of modern Burmese politics has been this negative reaction to the way in which people felt the country was pulled into the 20th century there was a desire to go back to something that people thought was authentic and pre-colonial the military regime that took over in 1962 really though was an extreme sort of version of that it did reflect this kind of wider sentiment of wanting to put the Burmese back in charge of the country we live nearly 16 years in the Damned dates there is no trust there is no light we can do anything so now the road to democratic country we have to fill [Applause] [Music] in 2015 Burma held its first credible election in more than 50 years the country was pinning its hopes on veteran democracy activists and some Succi to lead her party to power after almost two decades under house arrest people across the country seized their chance to have a say in how their country was run the election was a big step forward but while fighting across the country goes on the military will continue to hold the balance of power in a system known as disciplined democracy and the voice of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces general min online still carries huge weight Upali Tom O'Donnell a navy into the room on it is a suit on ice he attended a debate with a man whose home was today at 8:30 go this house hotel do day-to-day job debuted wala routine Roger Navarro now every be a doormat I wanna see but despite reservations the election assured in a level of freedom and opportunity the burmese hadn't known in decades for so wind that meant one thing it was time to go to india and start work on bringing his great-grandfather home at last I think not not a vacation are they it's a kind of a neverending story that we wish this to end not in a tragic way to make everybody happy Emma Indian British also it's my favorite sixth time are they checking every checking this is a never-ending mission I can't believe opposed the more you are involved the more were to do science never eat grass they will rather die if there is nothing to be so this is the kind of spirit in our family so when and his family made this journey once before in the darkest days of military rule the government swore them to secrecy and these family tapes remained hidden until now in 1993 we performed the last rites that was not performed when my great grandfather passed away when I got me a Qunari locates the big trees coming out from the tombs it was in an imaginary that is about to be demolished or disappear [Music] [Music] this belongs to our history in our history also these are the floor plans of the royal residence to which King Tibor moved it's quite a grand building it was on 27 acres of land there were 16 spacious rooms the king by then had been so beaten into submission that he called it the palace I feel at home because these settings are very familiar with me you see that this chase these are original ones oh yes yeah sit down for oh yeah just to post yeah okay see you see please listen we that like this very majestic seats yeah the last king of Burma is buried in a rundown corner of Ratna Giri next to his tomb stands an empty shell intended for his eldest daughter who died here leaving a new Indian branch of the royal family behind her ashes were last seen in the local tax office and the family is still searching for them ordinarily I do not want to be a liar No welcome arrived means have lots of responsibilities but I cannot see tonight that because blood inside me reminded me just now I got the feeling your majesty let us leave from here you'll be here again very soon to follow up your return back home [Music] every year the family holds a secret ceremony in Yangon to mark pardon the day when King v-ball was sent into exile and Burma was changed forever he sent to work in a hurry by British government that's called the power of but December 2016 marked a hundred years since the king died in India and in this centenary year so win was granted permission to hold a special ceremony at the golden palace in Mandalay the place where the exile story began it was a bit of a change from having to show his idea the door just two years earlier where the country belongs we lost everything since 1885 of course he came here and took the country by force you can call it the boring British tomorrow is the 131st Paro moody we never held this kind of Aramis ordinary before in this place this will be the very first time baramura turning at some god-awful how good each imagine opening act social got a complete car you generally if you are in java you dad sees really enjoying himself but nowadays there are many changes this was a historic milestone for the royal family but watching so when i was starting to wonder how the rest of the family felt about the direction he was taken to step by step of course my dad ambition is so long turner vision my father right now you probably seems just at the out divergence but in a way inspired by the success of the day so win decided to take the whole family to india to mark the exact day of the last King's death and at the same time dozens of senior monks informed him they were coming to and so was the head of the Armed Forces but no I think going bigger and bigger I just met one of the senior monk with accompanying us that's why we are late this is the history for our country for the centenary [Music] while so winds celebrated in Mandalay Devi stayed in Yangon to oversee the pardoning ceremony as she always had but try as she might she couldn't avoid the excitement that was building around the family road in a car or to recharge upon sangoma say unashamed Dharma no some shouting bottom a lab you know the range where do they make Mira no no miss Oliver hello Bertram and me today are near luang ani not need each other Amelia okay transient rule that mean the wine yeah Harry tissue near Acharya Holyrood looking about Manero thousand Katrina said so we are delaria segment Ariano painting Vario pas ma la lumière oh no arrow toledo jahnava para moobot on China's new tenido la na sora yep chakana para una muchacha para Munawar toha McCammon a kana para move nay they are tones an attorney today I am ma Fudo ta da para moody hamare chip Janeiro tolima H on me diarrhea Mecca pata chala me table demon Buffalo lovely darling I'll be Malala OB de memoire no a la vie Terral own era top our parent a tag apollo kappa at ASEAN Lumia you dare my own wedding Allah alone a team Agha Luna sued way cos when okay so long LOD Poirot nickimja can attorney lan imam abu el rato knowledge apollo-era Grega cochinita typo yo Pete Abba yah go from 100 UT by dou T Barama needy who will tell you when to Barama tell you when Adam Sheba rayappa yeah just remember the day before the family left for India they got together at so winds house Devi had to pull out of the trip in the last minute on health grounds but she come to say her farewells it was the first time she spoken to so win since her announcement on part of Uday any last minute worries no more oh boy there was many oh my from morning till evening many worries because I very well take your worries on your own brother no no no you know why of course these worries are very important if I cannot saw anything will happen this is the way that we have to do it well what is for the country no not for me for my country what am I gonna do this crying family is for the fun for the country not for me there's nothing for me we have to for the right time brother it's not yet no no it's my time you know why I'm I'm already 70 I cannot not another 2 or 3 years you told that you are 70 so you are doing it for yourself no the country majority wants to bring back majority wants to bring no brother if you want peace for the whole world you can carry back our great-grandfather body here because you see my point of view is very different from everyone you must first of all you have to make your country wealthy and rich then then we are hundred years over day did not for us for our next next Nixon I don't know fully democratic country yet everybody's saying democracy but this very fancy word I actually I do not understand what democracy is really I do not under because I was in states I know the American system of how their government are running in America and also in the in your place also in all over the war I do not like party politics really cause party is for the power so what are you going to substitute to develop our countries but it sister but the mana you must choose it because okay I think of that and you have any idea what you got any idea idea of my own so you can you explain a brief on that kindly and I will understand based on humans you see what is Islam or Christians or black or white or leftists or rightists I don't care i base it on human oh oh oh we are all humans why that's you called too high st. we want this country to be strong to have our own system to value ourselves we need to work together very closely among our name our people what am i any national team why fighting each other you know who studied this he been British haha but still they have to mention many stories I think that watching you two have very different opinions you're still the family this is the natural we are the cousin only first cousin from same family there's a different ways of ideas thinking this unity in diversity because we have we have to be united but we have diversity you're thinking what would you say that you agree on do better men of this country yeah yes don't want our own ways because he is the internationalist I'm your MA I want to walk only Poornima really not very big different yes you know yes a very different big platform you know why working for Mama so what will you choose only for the little Hema for the holder [Music] how do we gain independence there was one very big movement to bring back the remains of the King DeVoe even the Prime Minister who knew decided to donate fifty thousand chats are they for the donation for that course you know what happened the then British ambassador informed and Prime Minister who knew you know what the phrase he used the British ambassador that this peeping talk lie after a lifetime of anonymity so wind flew into a military airstrip with the most powerful man in the country general men online accompanied by dozens of the country's top soldiers politicians and holy men all there to mark the centenary of his great-grandfather's death in one way I think to see the repatriation of King people's remains to have a proper burial if for no other reason than to see a royal funeral and to see the ritual and the imagery that would go with that would be very interesting I don't think it would necessarily be an unwelcome thing whether it would be the best thing I think it's a different question senior general wishes to bring back home vice president and senior general he said why not bring this back home yes we are trying for many years ok let's do it the day of the centenary had finally arrived and the town was buzzing with press and police all keen to hear what so Winn had to say so my question is to mr. Slovenia is the morning we make one of the visitors who say that you have to as a personal electric back from the very beginning they are not wanted to come here but they were being forced to this is a kind of a human situation we lost everything I like to make you another question to you if you were in my place but will you say [Music] it was exactly a hundred years ago that the last king of Burma died here thousands of miles from home when I first started following the story of the Burmese royal family I thought it would be a story about the past but now I realized this wasn't history at all Britain's legacy in this corner of the world is still raw and the next chapter of our shared story was being written right in front of me [Music] Joe La Jolla every time I am young Nia Nia Nia which is these are the banja about a now more data don't you soupy al-gaddafi will it be Roman Empire you deal in Ezra banjaara body the impact of the Exile of the King was huge on Burma having a king on the throne was a sense of security a sense of who they were it led to a lot of unrest a lot of loss of identity their religion being violated institutions that had existed for generations everything disappeared El Dorado in Burma China whoo Thank You pico de Kooning hootenanny hootenanny surgery not lesser Nina Juba other projects are Raja Azul Giovanni for the Permian the Royal period in a way reminds them of the failure of the country to stand up against colonial aggression yet there's almost nothing else to go back to if one is looking for a sort of non colonial model of what the country can be when you have a foreign country coming and occupying a country it creates a break with the past that's unnatural I think because Burma's colonial experience was in some ways so traumatic do you see there's much more severe reactions to Colonials and then one season almost any other part of the expedition party cannot Portuguese Indian a carryover say good luck honey yeah come on mrs. Saotome go to Armenia this is the place where my great-grandfather used to see the Caribbean Sea from this point for the rest of his life the place of no return I do not do walk internationally or to human beings or it's too too far or too high or it's very simple if the country's future is bright we all will be bright also we are part of the country we are part of the citizen we are just a simple family we can see before we are the loss trial not anymore now now in 21st centuries we must understand each other we doesn't hate myself will mostly can hate British but not the British people's only the one group who is and for the power those days not the British people people are saying do you like to bring back the monarchy no it's not the time it's the 21st century but the new generations must learn the histories the countries the kings and queens you must not forget I don't want to be a king nobody is asking me to be a king yet but if I do not want to go if if so there's no way of Queen to develop if I don't want to restore monarchy because our country is suffered a lot [Music] there's never been an inclusive identity but has been allowed to emerge in this country if that is not corrected in some way you may see an end to the armed conflicts but I think you will still not have the kind of society that will be able to cope with a lot of the problems to come awareness of the royal family in Burma would help people understand their past it's a reclamation of history which is possible now which was not possible under many years of military rule that's all I know we always wanted the Kings and the Queen's body to be product now what to do times have changed things have changed people's outlook our chain so let let them lie and piss me I always wear flowers in my hair especially Jasmine's my mother told me if you don't have jasmine at least wear a flower one flower in your head you will look more royalty so I always have not because I want to be a royalty but because I want to be pretty

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 509,774

Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, timeline, timeline world history, timeline channel, timeline world history documentaries

Id: BWFOr47_dao

Length: 54min 28sec (3268 seconds)

Published: Sat May 16 2020