Bhumibol came to Thailand in 1928, after Prince Mahidol obtained a certificate from

Harvard. The father died of kidney failure in September 1929, when Bhumibol was
two years old.[17] He briefly attended Mater Dei school in Bangkok but in 1933 his
mother took the family to Switzerland, where he continued his education at the
Ecole Nouvelle de la Suisse Romande in Lausanne. In 1934 Bhumibol was given his
first camera, which induced his lifelong enthusiasm for photography. [18] When
Bhumibol's childless uncle Prajadhipok abdicated in 1935, his 9-year-old brother
Ananda became the new King Rama VIII. However, the family stayed in Switzerland
and the affairs of the head of state were conducted by a regency council. They
returned to Thailand for only two months in 1938. In 1942, Bhumibol became a jazz
enthusiast, and started to play the saxophone, a passion that he has kept
throughout his life.[19] He received the baccalaurat des lettres (high-school diploma
with major in French literature, Latin, and Greek) from the Gymnase Classique
Cantonal of Lausanne, and by 1945 had begun studying science at the University of
Lausanne, when World War II ended and the family returned to Thailand. [20]