Prince Thayavong Savang (born April 17, 1964) is a surviving member of the now deposed royal family of the Kingdom of Laos

Kingdom of Laos

The Kingdom of Laos was a sovereign state from 1953 until December 1975, when Pathet Lao overthrew the government and created the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Given self-rule in 1949 as part of a federation with the rest of French Indochina, the 1953 Franco-Lao Treaty finally established a...

. He was born at the Royal Palace, Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang

Luang Prabang, or Louangphrabang , is a city located in north central Laos, where the Nam Khan river meets the Mekong River about north of Vientiane. It is the capital of Luang Prabang Province...

, Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

. His father is Crown Prince Vong Savang

Vong Savang

Crown Prince Vong Savang was born on September 27, 1931, at the Royal Palace Luang Prabang, Laos. His father was King Savang Vatthana and mother was Queen Khamphoui. He died at the hands of the communists in a so-called "seminar camp" in Laos on May 2, 1978...

 and mother is Princess Mahneelai.

Biography

In 1981, he escaped from Luanprabang to Vientiane then to Thailand with his older brother Crown Prince Soulivong Savang

Soulivong Savang

Crown Prince Soulivong Savang , grandson of the last King of Laos Savang Vatthana, is the pretender to the Lao throne. Laos was a monarchy until 1975, when the communist Pathet Lao seized control of the nation, causing Savang Vatthana to abdicate his throne...

, arriving in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 as political refugees.

He is currently exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

d and lives in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, and is active in Lao communities abroad to help preserve and promote Lao culture.

External links

• Laos Royals pay respects to September 11, 2001 Victims (Photos)