and his mother, Queen
Sri Savarindira (Savang Vadhana). His half-brother and old friend Prince
Rangsit then came into play. He was at that time Chief of the
Royal Medical College. Medical and public health education at that time lagged behind the Western standard. The
Medical College and its hospital,
Siriraj, were small, crowded, underfunded, understaffed, and ill-equipped. Prince Rangsit, himself a lesser-class prince (as his mother was a commoner), thought that having someone of high prestige like Prince Mahidol (who was a first-class celestial prince, being born to a royal mother who was also a daughter of a king) supporting the movement to improve medical practice and public health in Thailand would generate more interest and probably more funding. He strategically invited Prince Mahidol to a boat trip along the Bangkok Yai and Bangkok Noi canals. His office,
Siriraj Hospital, was on the route, and this was where he invited his half-brother to stop and have a look around. Having seen Mahidol's reaction to the poor state of the hospital, Prince Rangsit asked him if he wanted to help; Mahidol's answer at that time was, however, not very positive, as he was concerned that he knew nothing about medicine himself. However, a few days elapsed, and he agreed to help. He also decided he would study in related fields himself. Thus, the Prince went to
Edinburgh, Scotland to study
public health at
University of Edinburgh and then to
Cambridge, Massachusetts to study at
Harvard Medical School. He also asked Prince Rangsit to select four students to be sent to the U.S.: two medical students who would be funded by Mahidol himself and two nursing students who would be funded by his mother, Queen
Savang Vadhana. It was said that the Prince went to the train station to greet the students himself. This was when an unintended sequel of Prince Rangsit's scheme occurred: one of the nursing students who arrived was the 18-year-old Miss
Sangwal Talabhat, future wife of Prince Mahidol and mother of two future kings of Thailand. Mahidol diligently looked after his students, and thus became close to Miss Talabhat, who then accompanied him back to Thailand three years later to attend the funeral of Queen
Saovabha. While there, they married under the royal blessing of his half-brother King
Vajiravudh at Sapathum Palace before returning to Harvard. He received his Certificate in Public Health the following year (1921). After his study, he went back to
Edinburgh for a break but was also asked to represent the Thai government in liaising with the
Rockefeller Foundation, which was offering monetary and technical help to improve Thailand's medical and public health education. His first child, Princess
Galyani Vadhana, was born in London in 1923. He returned to Thailand the same year to take the position of Director-General of the University Department in the Ministry of Education. Apart from his administrative duties, he also taught pre-clinical medical students at the Royal Medical College. ==Later life==