Exiled, disappeared and jailed: Thai King’s savage divorces
Last week, the monarch stripped his official mistress of her rank in a shock move — but it is far from the first time he has punished one of his partners.
When Maha Vajiralongkorn was crowned King Rama X of Thailand in May this year, it marked the ascension to the throne of one of the most extraordinarily unusual monarchs in modern history.
His peccadillos and eccentricities have long been the subject of media reports.
Among them are his huge back tattoo revealed when he was pictured saluting on a runway wearing jeans and sandals; the time he was photographed shopping in Germany in a tank top; the birthday party he threw his beloved poodle Foo Foo at which his third wife, Princess Srirasmi, appeared topless; the fact Foo Foo was also named an Air Chief Marshall in the Thai air force.
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Last week the King was in the headlines again after stripping his official concubine Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, a former army nurse, of her titles only three months after anointing her his official mistress.
An official statement read in part: “Royal Noble Consort Sineenat is ungrateful and behaves in ways unbecoming of her title. She is also not content with the title bestowed upon her, doing everything to rise to the level of the queen.”
However, this is far from the first time his treatment of women has caused shockwaves, with his previous wives having faced exile, their families being arrested, and forced to seek asylum.
WIFE AND COUSIN
Vajiralongkorn married his first wife Princess Soamsawali (who also happens to be his first cousin) in 1977. The following year, they welcomed daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha though divorced in 1993.
Throughout their marriage, he fathered five children with his mistress Yuvadhida Polpraserth, an aspiring actress.
Of all the King’s former wives, Princess Soamsawali, has thus far been the only one who retained a position in the court and has performed royal duties subsequently. Earlier this year, she suffered from two strokes and Instagram photos purporting to be of her show her in a wheelchair.
NO PASSPORTS, NO HOMELAND
While Vajiralongkorn married mistress Yuvadhida Polpraserth in 1994, it has been reported he first met her when she was a teenager. By the time they wed, The Times reports, she had been his mistress for 15 years and they had already had four children — three sons and a daughter.
The kids lived in the Thai royal palace and were educated at expensive British boarding schools until 1996 when the King divorced his wife, who was known as Princess Sujarinee Mahidol.
In 2016, a letter written by Vajiralongkorn’s three sons in 1998 came to light detailing the alleged events. They say their father arrived in the UK, “took away our little sister” and stripped his sons and wife of their royal status.
They were also told they were never to return to their homeland.
“We tried constantly to … contact our father but were never allowed to talk to him,” the letter reads, according to The Times. “Private investigators, undoubtedly hired by our father, followed our every move.
“Letters came from our father to the schools that we were attending, saying that he would no longer pay. He demanded that we surrender our diplomatic passports to the Thai royal embassy … We were told that the Thai public does not accept us and that we were not welcome in Thailand.”
They also alleged their mother’s friends in Thailand had been persecuted and jailed.
Another report has claimed that after the end of the marriage, the then-Crown Prince put posters around the royal palace claiming that Princess Sujarinee had been cheating on him with a 60-year-old Thai air marshal.
In 1997, Princess Sujarinee and her sons fled to the US where they were granted political asylum.
Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana is a princess of Thailand and the only daughter of King Vajiralongkorn and Sujarinee Vivacharawongse . pic.twitter.com/Ba6sVvpylF
— Black Panther Was Killed in Thailand (@Aries_Em) January 8, 2018
G-STRINGS AND POODLES
The King married his third wife Princess Srirasmi Akrapongpreecha, a former waitress, in 2001, though the Thai public was only informed of their union in 2005.
In 2007, a shocking video emerged of Princess Srirasmi wearing nothing but a G-string at the infamous birthday party Vajiralongkorn had thrown for his pooch, Foo Foo, years earlier. In one scene she appears to eat out of a dog bowl and later they both sing happy birthday to the animal.
The same year, US ambassador Ralph “Skip” Boyce hosted a dinner for the monarch and his then-wife. Boyce said of the colourful evening: “Foo Foo, currently holds the rank of Air Chief Marshal.
“Foo Foo was present at the event, dressed in formal evening attire complete with paw mitts, and at one point during the band’s second number, he jumped up onto the head table and began lapping from the guests’ waterglasses, including my own.
“The Air Chief Marshal’s antics drew the full attention of the 600-plus audience members, and remains the talk of the town to this day.”
When Air Chief Marshall Foo Foo died in 2015, his passing was marked by four days of Buddhist rites.
Srirasmi: divorced and humiliated.
— Andrew MacGregor Marshall (@zenjournalist) February 4, 2015
Foo Foo: dead.
Vajiralongkorn: Thailand's next king? pic.twitter.com/XMTyCi5igG
In 2014, Princess Srirasmi experienced a dramatic fall from grace and faced severe consequences.
At least eight of her relatives were convicted and jailed for lèse-majesté, including her elderly parents who were sentenced to two and a half years jail each after pleading guilty to defaming the monarchy.
Srirasmi lost her royal name and was separated from her then nine-year old son, Prince Dipangkorn who is the heir presumptive to the throne.
Since then Srirasmi has disappeared from public view and is reported to have been exiled by the King to live in an undisclosed location in Thailand.
Prince Dipangkorn joins young volunteers to do civic works. https://t.co/dFers4aqc7 #KingBhumibol pic.twitter.com/1KPPz3gASE
— Thai PBS World (@ThaiPBSWorld) October 25, 2017
THE CURRENT QUEEN
In May this year, the King married his long-term girlfriend Suthida Tidjai, making her Queen Suthida.
A former air stewardess, she was forced to lie at his feet during the traditional ceremony.
It was the latest in a series of elevations: In 2014 she was made a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit and in 2016 was made an Army General.
Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, a former nurse and royal bodyguard, was anointed as the King’s official mistress amid much pomp and ceremony in August of this year, at which the Queen was present.
She too has now fallen foul of the mercurial monarch and has been stripped of all her honours for allegedly trying to undermine the Queen.
In 1982, Vajiralongkorn’s mother, Queen Sirikit said simply: “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.”
Daniela Elser is a royal expert and freelance writer with 20 years’ experience who has written for some of Australia’s best print and digital media brands.
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