Boun Oum

Prime Minister of Laos Sympathetic to the French in Laos, he commanded a force of 15,000 that fought Japanese troops and the Lao Issara in the south of Laos. Titular leader of the royalist faction (and one of the Three Princes of the Kingdom of Laos), he served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos from March 1949 to February 1950 and again from December 1960 to June 1962

He retired from politics to pursue business interests from his base in Pakse and Champassak but continued to be a major power broker until his exile in 1975, the year the communist Pathet Lao came to power. In 1975 he went to France for medical treatment and never returned to Laos. He died in Boulogne-Billancourt, France in 1980 and his ashes are buried at the Cimetiere de Trivaux in Meudon France, next to his wife Princess Bouaphanh na Champassak (1920–2013).

Honours National honours Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol. Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Laos. Commander of the Order of Civic Merit of Laos.

Foreign honours Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the White Elephant, Thailand [special class]. Grand Officer of the Royal Order of Cambodia. Commander of the Legion of Honour. Combatant's Cross (1940). Croix de Guerre [with palm and star] (1941). Medal of French Gratitude [1st class] (1946). Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (1946). Indochina Campaign commemorative medal (1954). Resistance Medal [2nd class] (1945).

Ancestry