Thai king reinstates disgraced royal consort after absence
Thailand’ s king has re conciledwi th his royal consort, whom he stripped of her titles last year after accusing her of seeking to undermine his official wife, the country’s queen.
The restoration of Sineen - atra Wongvajirabhakdi to the good graces of King Maha Vajiralongkorn was confirmed by an official announcement published yesterday in the Royal Gazette. The announcement, dated 29 August, said she was being given back her royal and military titles.
The note said Ms Sineenatra was not tainted by any wrongdoing and the record should not show that she ever lost her privileges. Bloggers who follow royal news had reported last week that Ms Sineenatra had been rehabilitated. She had not been seen pub - licly after her fall from grace last year and her whereabouts were never made clear.
In July last year, King Vajiralongkorn gave Ms Sineenatra the royal consort title of chao khun phra sineenatra bi l as aka lay a ni, reviving an old palace tradition of taking a junior wife that had not been pr act iced for almost a century.
In May last year, King Vajiralongkorn named long-time companion Sut hida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya his queen when they were married a few days before his formal coronation. KingVajira longko rn assumed the throne after the 2016 death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years.
Then in October last year, less than three months after making Ms Si ne en at ra his royal consort, the king issued a command rescinding the appointment. In a statement, he accused her of misbehaving by actively seeking to block Queen Suthida’s appointment, seeking to take the position herself, and saying that when she failed to block Queen Suthida, her “ambitions and aspirations” led her to continue to seek ways to promote herself.
That statement said the king tried to alleviate the problem by appointing Ms Sineenatra his official royal consort, but that she remained unsatisfied and continued to compete with Queen Suthida.
Both Queen Suthida, 42, and Ms Sineenatra, 35, have served as senior officers in palace security units.
QueenSut hid a was previously a flight attendant with Thai Airways, while Ms Sineenatra was an army nurse. The 68-year-old king has seven children by three previous marriages, all of which ended in divorce.
Ms Sineenatra’s fall had been particularly stunning because only two months earlier, a palace website released scores of photos of her and the king, some in formal settings and others in markedly casual poses, such as taking part in flying, shooting and skydiving. Others showed her and the king holding hands, unusually intimate photos for members of the royal family.