Myat Phaya Gyi

Princess Myat Phaya Gyi (; 5 September 1880 – 3 June 1947) was a Burmese royal princess and most senior member of the Royal House of Konbaung. She was the eldest daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, King Thibaw, and his queen Supayalat.

After falling in love with an Indian servant, the princess embarrassed the royal family, gave up her royal princess insignia, and lived a life of dire poverty and isolation until her death. Her story still intrigues many in Myanmar, where she is seen as a romantic and yet tragic figure who fell from the grace of the golden palace to a pauper because of her unshakable love.

Life In the royal palace

Princess Myat Phaya Gyi was born on 5 September 1880, at the Royal Palace, Mandalay. She was King Thibaw's firstborn daughter by his chief queen, Supayalat. Several ceremonies were held after her birth to honor her royal rank, but the largest of all was the Dawthakarana (cradling) ceremony, in which she was placed in an emerald-studded cradle in front of the Bee Throne in the Glass Palace. Hundreds of magnificent gifts were brought to her, including valuable stones, pearls, jewelry, solid gold bowls, bolts of fine cloth, and so on. The Thonze Princess and the Taungzin Princess were chosen as her head nurse and second nurse, respectively, and numerous palace maids were appointed to assist them.

When she was five years old, King Thibaw was defeated in the Third Anglo-Burmese War and forced to abdicate by the British in 1885. On 25 November 1885, they were taken away in a covered carriage, leaving Mandalay Palace by the southern gate of the walled city, along the streets lined by British soldiers and the king's wailing subjects, to the river Irrawaddy where a steamboat called Thuriya (Sun) awaited. They were exiled to the remote coastal town of Ratnagiri in India, where they lived for over 30 years. She did not receive any formal education.