Supayalat (Burmese: စုဖုရားလတ်, pronounced[sṵpʰəjálaʔ]; 13 December 1859 – 24 November 1925), also spelt Suphayalat, was the last queen of Burma who reigned in Mandalay (1878–1885), born to King Mindon Min and Queen of Alenandaw (lit.'Middle Palace'; also known as Hsinbyumashin or Lady of the White Elephant). The British corruption of her name was "Soup Plate".[1] She was married to her half-brother, Thibaw, who became the last king of the Konbaung dynasty in 1878, upon Mindon Min's death. She is best known for engineering a massacre of 80 to 100 royal family members, to prevent potential rivals from usurping Thibaw's power,[2] although she had always denied any knowledge of the plot, which may have been hatched by her mother together with some of the ministers, including the chancellor Kinwon Min Gyi U Kaung.[3][4]
King Thibaw was known for his reliance on Supayalat. Although Thibaw was king, many historians say it was Supayalat who actually ruled the country. The bloody coup that brought her and Thibaw to power associated her name with cruelty, brutality and barbarity. As a greatest achievement of Supayalat, she changed the royal tradition of polygamy to monogamy on a Burmese king for the first and the last time in history and never allowed Thibaw to take another woman as a consort.[3] Supayalat executed Daing Khin Khin, the secret concubine of King Thibaw, even though she was pregnant.[5]
In Burmese history, Supayalat is remembered for her ego, cruelty, and excessive pride, serving as the figure held responsible for the kingdom's fall into the hands of the imperialists. She became the embodiment of a Burmese proverb: "A woman can bring ruin to a kingdom [my]" (မိန်းမဖျက် ပြည်ပျက်).[6]
^Marshall, Andrew (2002). The Trouser People: A Story of Burma – In the Shadow of the Empire. p. 43. ISBN 1-58243-120-5.
^Champeon, Kenneth (July 2003). "The Last Queen of Burma". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
^ abKhin Maung Soe (February 2007). "The Tragic Queen". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
^The Bandoola Journal (February 2007). "A Teatime Tete-à-Tete". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
^စုဖုရားလတ်ရှင်းတမ်းနှင့်ပါတော်မူဖြစ်ရပ်များ (in Burmese). Cui ̋cā pe. 2004.
^"မိန်းမဖျက်လို့ပြည်ပျက်ရသတဲ့လား". MAWKUN Magazine. 9 February 2019.
Supayalat (Burmese: စုဖုရားလတ်, pronounced [sṵpʰəjá laʔ]; 13 December 1859 – 24 November 1925), also spelt Suphayalat, was the last queen of Burma who...
Supayagyi would assume the throne. During the royal Aggamahesi coronation, Supayalat pushed in next to her sister to be anointed queen at the same time, breaking...
daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, King Thibaw, and his queen Supayalat. Myat Phaya Galay was born on 25 April 1887 in Ratnagiri, British India...
king did not fulfill his promise, and Daing Khin Khin was executed by Supayalat while she was pregnant. Daing Khin Khin, born into a noble family as the...
daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, King Thibaw and his queen Supayalat. Myat Phaya was born on 7 March 1886 at Madras, British India. She returned...
daughter of the last ruling king of Burma, King Thibaw, and his queen Supayalat. After falling in love with a palace servant, the princess embarrassed...
between King Mindon and Hsinbyumashin. She was a full-blooded sister of Supayalat and Supayalay. She received the appanage of Mong Nawng and was therefore...
of Princess Myat Phaya Galay and the grandson of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. During the Japanese occupation, the Japanese government sought to set...
Lokmanya Tilak. Thibaw, the last king of Burma, alongside his consort Supayalat and two infant daughters were exiled to a two-storied brick mansion in...
considered a threat to its status and power. The site contains mausolea of Supayalat, queen consort of the last king of Myanmar; the nationalist and writer...
almost all possible heirs to the throne be killed, so that her daughter Supayalat and son-in-law Thibaw would become queen and king. Close royals of all...
Mandalay. She was the second daughter of King Thibaw by his chief queen Supayalat. The princess was married on 20 February 1917 at the Collector's Bungalow...
Hsinbyumashin had seven children, but they did not survive– only Supayagyi, Supayalat and Supayalay were alive. After the death of the chief queen, Setkya Dewi...
Queen Sirikit, consort of Great King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand Queen Supayalat, chief consort of King Thibaw Min, the last King of Burma Queen Supayalay...
Mindon and Hsinbyumashin. She was a full-blooded sister of Supayagyi and Supayalat. She received the appanage of Yamethin and was therefore known as the...
following the Communist coup d'état of 1948 in Czechoslovakia. Thibaw Min and Supayalat were exiled to India after Third Anglo-Burmese War, named Pataw Mu. Exile...
Princess Myat Phaya Galay, the fourth daughter of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. Upon the death of his aunt Myat Phaya Lat in 1956, he became the Head...
the Royal House of Konbaung and the grandson of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. Taw Phaya Glay was also known as a historian for writing books about...
by Hsinbyumashin, one of Mindon's queens, together with her daughter, Supayalat. (Rudyard Kipling mentions her as Thibaw's queen, and borrows her name...
of the Konbaung kingdom of Burma who was exiled to Ratnagiri, India) Supayalat (the last queen of Burma) Hteiksu Myat Phaya Gyi Hteiksu Myat Phaya Lat...
Phaya Galay, the fourth daughter of the last king of Burma Thibaw Min and Supayalat. Hteik Su Phaya Htwe was born on 20 August 1927 in Rangoon, British Burma;...
Princess Myat Phaya Lat, the second daughter of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. Khin Maung Lat was the second son of Khin Maung Gyi, the minister for...
Laungshe, mother of King Thibaw; Queen Hsinbyumashin, mother of Queen Supayalat. The Royal Mint is located a few hundred metres to the northeast of the...
by Supayalat, she remained on good terms with the family and attended the ear-boring ceremony of the daughters of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat in Ratnagiri...
when the British conquered the city and sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile in India. Moreover, a group of drunken soldiers set fire to...
Princess Myat Phaya Galay, the fourth daughter of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat. She went to a Catholic school in Moulmein and was employed at the U.S...
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