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The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 41  which the West viewed Siam, its monarchy and its people. Siam was no longer just the name of an exotic, faraway land, it was indeed a real place. King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit also heard the opinions of many who believed Thailand to have a fairy-tale image. Thailand was clearly not known to many countries in the world, as the following illustrates: “Mr. and Mrs. Simmermann, long-time American friends of the Princess Mother, came to visit us. […]. They told us that professors at the university in Los Angeles knew very little about oriental countries. They did not know about Thailand and thought that Southeast Asian countries were backward. They usually mentioned only the heat, fl ies, and mosquitoes, demonstrating the narrow view that Westerners could have of other countries. This couple endeavoured to explain that oriental cultures were ancient and valuable and some of them did not yet exist in Western countries. […] In fact, there were still many foreigners with good intentions towards us. For example, I recently invited a very important Westener to have lunch with me. He said that he was very concerned because when he visited the temple in the Grand Palace, he heard a tour guide explain to some foreign tourists, “The King of Thailand, King Rama V, had a thousand wives.” […] Is what the tour guide said true? ” I replied, “No, it’s not true.” Then he said, “If it’s not true, you shouldn’t let them speak nonsense like that because there are a lot of foreigners who do not use their brains to think fi rst before believing what they have been told what was true or not (as the King said in a speech), but these people will believe whatever they are told straightaway. […].” 27 (Reported in Los Angeles) 26 Illustriertes Wiener Extrablatt, evening post, 24 June 1887, cited in: Pornsan Watanangura, Tosporn Kasikam, Relations between the Kingdom of Siam and the Royal Houses of Europe in the Documents Pertaining to King Chulalongkorn’s First Visit to Europe in 1897, footnote 4, p. 128 27 In Memory of the State Visits of His Majesty the King, The Royal Compositions of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, footnote 9, p. 256, 258. Pornsan Watanangura