Thai king ousts 6 after royal consort stripped of duties
BANGKOK — Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has dismissed six palace staffers, just days after stripping his royal consort of her titles and military ranks for what he termed disloyalty.
The six palace officials were dismissed and stripped of their ranks and royal decorations Wednesday, according to a statement from the palace.
The most senior of them, police Lt. Gen. Sakolket Chantra, worked with the Royal Household Bureau and sometimes represented the palace in public events. He was accused of “evil” actions — an expression that means serious misconduct — indiscipline and exploiting his job for personal gain, the statement said.
The others, attached to palace guard units, were similarly accused.
The ousted consort, Sineenatra Wongvajirabhakdi, had been a senior officer in a palace security unit. Sineenatra was stripped Monday of her positions and decorations for actions undermining the position of Queen Suthida, the king’s official wife, for her own benefit.
Although not publicly stated, the timing and circumstances suggested that some of the officials’ dismissals were related to the consort’s ouster. One of the officers served in the same security unit as Sineenatra, and another was a certified nurse working as a royal page in the royal chamber, or bedroom.
Queen Suthida, 41, is the king’s fourth wife, after three previous marriages ended in divorce. She had been Vajiralongkorn’s longtime companion when they married in May a few days before his formal coronation. Vajiralongkorn assumed the throne after the 2016 death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for 70 years.
The royal command by the 67-year-old king went into unusual detail in explaining why the action was taken against Sineenatra, 34, and came just three months after he granted her the consort title, reviving an old palace tradition of taking a junior wife.
Monday’s command condemned Sineenatra in harsh terms.
It accused her of misbehaving by seeking to block Suthida’s appointment as queen in order to take the position herself, and said that when she failed to block her rival, her “ambitions and aspirations” led her to continue to seek ways to promote herself.