Where he took his first steps...

Brookline - it's the place that harboured HM the King's humble beginnings. The building at 63 Longwood Avenue, where Thailand's beloved monarch took his first steps, his father

cooked meals and family members converged on the rooftop to play, doesn't look like anything special. Pedestrians pass its mod est turn-of-the-century, two-storey brick façade every day, but few know its history.

Cholthanee Koerojna of Burlington is attempting to change that. Yesterday, the Boston Globe reported on her latest efforts to honour what she calls the Brookline Palace.

 "Standing in front of the place, sometimes I get goosebumps,'' she said. "I think back

to 1928, imagine seeing the children playing in front of the building… I get a warm feeling

just looking at the building.''

Plaque goes up

On Sunday, she presided over a ceremony to dedicate a plaque commemorating the

King's time in residence, from 1926 to 1928. Buddhist monks chanted and anointed the

plaque with holy water before traditional Thai dancers performed on the sidewalk in

front of the building.

"I help people to learn about [the Royal Family], and I feel so proud,'' she told the

Boston Globe.

Most Thais are aware that the King was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts,

making him a rare foreign-born monarch. But not many know the details of how the

king came to be born here.

Prince Mahidol's journey

Prince Mahidol came to Boston in 1916 to study public health at Harvard University

and MIT. That was how he met his wife, a Thai nursing student at Simmons College --

and a commoner.He returned to Harvard to study medicine in 1926, this

time bringing his family. In Boston, he wanted to be known not by royal title but

simply as Mr Songkla.

Arriving in the city ahead of his family, he stayed in basic lodgings at the YMCA,

Cholthanee told the Globe."He wanted to live simply, like many other Americans

here,'' she said. "He didn't want to be different from others. He considered himself

down-to-earth.''

Prince Mahidol first tried to rent a house in Brookline, but was refused a lease because the landlord didn't want tenants with children, Koerojna said. So the family ended up living on the first floor of the apartment building on Longwood Avenue - the Brookline Palace.

In 1927, their third child was born at Mount Auburn Hospital, a boy they named Bhumibol Adulyadej.