Mongkut Mongkut Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramenthra Maha Mongkut Phra Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua (), or Rama IV, known in English-speaking countries as King Mongkut (18 October 18041 October 1868), was the fourth monarch of Siam (Thailand) under the House of Chakri, ruling from 1851 to 1868. Outside Thailand, he is best known as the king in the 1951 musical and 1956 film "The King and I", based on the 1946 film "Anna and the King of Siam"in turn based on a 1944 novel by an American missionary about Anna Leonowens' years at his court, from 1862 to 1867. During
Louis T. Leonowens was estranged from his mother for 19 years. In 1881, at the age of 25, he returned to Siam and was granted a commission of Captain in the Royal Cavalry, by King Chulalongkorn. Leonowens in 1884 left the military and entered the teak trade. He went on in 1905 to found the Louis Thomas Leonowens Company in Siam, which became Louis T. Leonowens Ltd, an international trading company. This company remains a leading exporter of Malayan hardwoods and an importer of building materials and general merchandise. He became less involved in the operations of the company after 1906 and left