Time for the King to put his colourful past behind him
The coronation of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn today will cap a colourful path towards the throne and mark his official transition into a more regal lifestyle.
The ceremony has been preceded by the sudden marriage of King Vajiralongkorn, 66, to Suthida Tidjai, one of his senior bodyguards, on Wednesday.
Queen Suthida, a former flight attendant, has become the fourth wife of the fighter-pilot monarch who in his younger days was known for his reportedly lively social life.
Few details are known about the Thai king in his homeland, where the monarchy is deified and strict lese majeste laws with jail terms of three to 15 years prevent any open discussion about members of the royal family.
Even the family itself is not exempt. The king’s third wife, Srirasmi, was stripped of her royal title in 2014 and several members of the family jailed for violating royal insult laws.
Vajiralongkorn’s reputation is closely managed by a trusted inner core of close advisers and he is often represented performing royal or charity duties in the official Thai press. But the secrecy shrouding his wealthy lifestyle has occasionally been broken by foreign media reports alleging eccentricities such as taking his pet poodle — named Air Chief Marshal Foo Foo — dressed in formal attire to a diplomatic event.
Before stepping up his royal duties after the death of his father in 2016, Vajiralongkorn spent much of his time overseas, particularly Germany, where he owns lavish residences on the shores of Lake Starnberg in Bavaria.
Since 2016, he has taken on a more prominent public role, forming his own imprint on the monarchy after he and the country observed an extended mourning period for his father and the end of his 70-year reign.
But in 2017, Thai authorities demanded that Facebook remove embarrassing footage of the king in a shopping centre, wearing a crop top and sporting fake tattoos.
His new wife had been serving as deputy commander of the monarch’s personal guard since 2017, and while rumours of their romantic liaison had existed for some time, the palace had previously never acknowledged them. A royal statement broke the silence, announcing that the king had “decided to promote” General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, to become queen and hold “status as part of the royal family”.
Today’s coronation, in a ceremony that weaves together Buddhist and Hindu Brahmin rituals, will be followed by a procession that will see newly created King Rama X of the Chakri dynasty elevated on a palanquin carried by soldiers.
The three-day national celebration, costing an estimated US$31 million ($46.8m), will be imbued with pomp and tradition, including the ablution of the king using water collected from more than 100 sources throughout 76 Thai provinces.
Along with a 7kg gold and diamond-encrusted crown and ancient sword of the Khmer empire, the new monarch will be given a royal fly whisk, made from the hair of a Himalayan yak, which signifies his duty to waft away his people’s troubles.
The only son of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Siriki, he was educated at private schools in Sussex and Somerset, England, before heading to Australia to train at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in Canberra.
He continued to receive advanced military training in Thailand, Britain and the United States and became an officer in the Thai armed forces.
He is also a qualified civilian pilot, flying his own Boeing 737 when he travels overseas.