Royal bids to be next premier

BANGKOK — Princess Ubolratana Mahidol, the first child of Thailand’s beloved late king, has always been a bit of a rebel, and on Friday she shook Thai society by becoming the first member of the royal family to say she would enter party politics.

But hours later, her younger brother, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, commanded her to halt her bid to become prime minister, saying in an order read on television that no member of the royal family should be involved in politics.

It wasn’t the first unexpected turn in a somewhat turbulent life. Ubolratana, 67, was born into royalty but is not exactly a royal princess, which distinguishes her from her three siblings: Vajiralongkorn, 66, Princess Sirindhorn, 63, and Princess Chulabhorn, 61. She lost her special royal titles more than four decades ago when she married a commoner, an American, but is still called and widely regarded as a princess.

But in practical terms, she today enjoys all, or most, of the same privileges as her siblings — except she is expected to be subservient to her younger brother, the king.

Energetic and ebullient, her main public activities involve a youth antidrug campaign she founded called “To Be Number One,” and promoting Thai tourism and movies at international forums.

She was registered Friday as a prime ministerial candidate for the Thai Raksa Chart Party, which is associated with the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, abhorred by conservative royalists as a corrupt rival for power. The army staged coups against Thaksin in 2006, and against a government that his sister had led in 2014.