The Thailand palace intrigue is only worsening. Days after 'playboy King' Maha Vajiralongkorn stripped the long-time consort of all royal titles, as many as six senior palace officials have been fired. The Thai palace said the palace officials were fired for or their "evil actions".
The action against the 34-year-old royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi had shocked Thais as it came only a few months after the King bestowed on her the rare title of 'Chao Khun Phra' or the noble consort. Maha Vajiralongkorn, who ascended the Thai throne in 2017 after the death of his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, is the first Thai monarch to have officially practised polygamy in almost a hundred years. The palace said the former bodyguard was stripped of her titles owing to "disloyalty" to the throne.
The officials fired on Wednesday included a nurse at the bedroom guard service and a veterinarian, the Royal Gazette said. "They have severely breached disciplinary conduct for their evil actions by exploiting their official positions for their own or other people's gain," the palace mouthpiece said.
A senior official who was dismissed was Pol Lt Gen Sakolket Chantra of the Royal Household Bureau. He was accused of misuse of his state position for his own and others' gain and failure to perform his duties in line with regulations, causing serious damage to the state, the Bangkok Post said citing the Royal Gazette. The official was stripped of his rank and royal decorations.
The others who were fired are: Maj Gen Khun Tharinee Rodson, attached to the Ratcha Wallop Royal Guards' Royal Security Command; Khunying Thidarat Thamraksa, attached to the Royal Guards 904 Division; Maj Gen Warinporn Kanisornsophon, attached to the Royal Guards 904; Lt Peera Mongkolchairerk, attached to the Royal Guards 904; and Lt Chayanan Pangsang, attached to the Ratcha Wallop Royal Guards Royal Security Command.
Jet-set playboy
King Maha Vajiralongkorn was crowned Rama X in April 2017 following the death of long-serving monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Royal commentators living outside Thailand had warned that Vajiralongkorn would find it hard to fill in the shoes of Adulyadej, who was a towering figure.
Vajiralongkorn had earned the reputation of a jet-set playboy during his prolonged stay abroad, mostly in Germany. His other herself had called him a Don Juan. "I have to be very frank. My son, the crown prince, is a little bit of a Don Juan ... He is a good student, a good boy, but women find him interesting and he finds women even more interesting. So his family life is not so smooth," Queen Sirikit Kitiyakara told the Dallas Times Herald in 1981.
Earlier, in May, Vajiralongkorn married Suthida Tidjai, a former acting commander of Royal Thai Aide-de-Camp Department. She is the king's fourth wife.
