Thailand’s new playboy king, Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn

HERE’S Thailand’s new king. The Crown Prince looked more like a court jester than a ruler, in a crop top and fake tattoos.

PEOPLE of Thailand, meet your new king.

With the Southeast Asian nation facing an uncertain future with the death of its revered monarch on Thursday, a new photo has emerged of the throne’s heir apparent looking more court jester than king.

Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, showed up at an airport in Munich recently, strutting around in a rolled-up tank top, sagging jeans and fake tattoos with a poodle in tow.

Thai Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn in 2009. Picture: AFP

Maha Vajiralongkorn seen here as a young man. Picture: AFP

In contrast to his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose death ends a 70-year reign, the playboy prince has a reputation among his soon-to-be subjects for bizarre behaviour, womanising and cruelty to his many wives, The New York Post reports.

Taking a page from Caligula, Vajiralongkorn named his favourite pet, a poodle named Foo Foo, as an air marshal.

He even took the pooch to a 2007 reception hosted in his honour by US Ambassador Ralph “Skip” Boyce.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, Queen Sirikit, right, and the Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn in 1999 at the King’s 72nd birthday. Picture: AP

“Foo Foo was ... 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,” Mr Boyce wrote, according to a WikiLeaks document.

“The Air Chief Marshal’s antics ... remains the talk of the town to this day.”

But tales of the prince’s behaviour exist mostly in the realm of rumour in Thailand. The nation has strict laws banning stories about the royal family.

But in 2007, the depravity of Vajiralongkorn’s court was exposed when a video surfaced of his third wife, Princess Srirasmi, a former bar waitress, walking around topless at her own birthday party while eating cake with Foo Foo.

Thai Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn reviewing an Indian honour guard during an official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Palace in 1998. Picture: AFP

When the dog died last year, it was given a four-day funeral.

Srirasmi has split from the prince after being booted from the Royal Palace in December. In a show of his cruelty, he recently allowed her parents to be thrown in prison for two and a half years for “royal defamation.”

His earlier two marriages were equally rocky. During his first — to his cousin — he allegedly fathered five kids with a mistress, then married the mistress. Later he dumped her, forcing her to flee the country.

Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn (L) and his sister Princess Sirindhorn, who many hope will succeed her father. Picture: AFP

The new images of him are sensitive, with officials detaining the Thai wife of a British journalist who put them online.

While Vajiralongkorn is the heir apparent, some hope his younger sister, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, might ascend to the throne. But women are banned from the throne.

Vajiralongkorn, meanwhile. has asked for four days to mourn before being installed as king — but some observers think he only wants more time to party.

This article originally appeared in The New York Post