Thibaw Min

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Thibaw Min 1858 - December 19, 1916; or simply Thibaw, Theebaw, or Theobaw ( referred to as Thibau by George Orwell in Burmese Days) was the last king of Burma (now Myanmar). His reign ended when Burma was defeated by the forces of the British Empire in 1885, prior to its annexation in 1886.

Thibaw was born in Mandalay and studied briefly in a Buddhist monastery. His father Mindon Min made him prince of the northern State of Thibaw (now Hsipaw), from which he took his name, and he succeeded as king in 1878 with the help of a powerful widow of his late father and other senior officials. He was married to two of his half sisters the younger of which was known to have a substantial influence on him.

The British, using the pretext that he was a tyrant who had reneged on his treaties, completed a conquest that had started in 1824. Thibaw and his family were exiled to Ratnagiri, India, where they lived in virtual isolation. He died of a heart attack at the age of 58.

Though the British portrayed him as tyrant, he was known to be a religious and polite person and had tried to save his country as best he could.

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