For which the king-don Juan from Thailand demoted his official favorite
For which the king-don Juan from Thailand demoted his official favorite

Video: For which the king-don Juan from Thailand demoted his official favorite

Video: For which the king-don Juan from Thailand demoted his official favorite
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The frivolous mention of Don Juan in the title of this article was made for one good reason - this is how the Queen Mother named her son Mahu Vatchiralongkona at a press conference back in 1981. The press, however, was not so loyal to this monarch all the years. While he was still a prince, the heir was called the "horseman of the apocalypse" and often recalled the ancient prophecy of the tenth king of the Chakri dynasty, who would bring with him chaos and the decline of the state. The personal life of this monarch, who recently took control of the country, really looks like a Mexican series, and the last related scandal, which erupted in Thailand on October 21, 2019, is far from the first.

Recently, the media around the world spread the message that the king of Thailand Maha Vatchiralongkon (Rama X) demoted and stripped of all titles 34-year-old Sininat Wongvatchiraphakdi, who in July this year became the first official royal consort in a hundred years. I would like to immediately clarify that consorts in Thailand in the old days were appointed companions of the monarch who did not have a royal rank. The name and idea were probably taken from the European tradition, where consorts are consorts of kings and queens who are not monarchs. But in this case we are talking about the "companion" who received this title for the first time in the last 100 years. It is not known exactly how the official spouse reacted to this. Former nurse Sininat Wongvatchiraphakdi made a brilliant career at the throne, rising from a simple employee of the Prince's personal security to a major general. Now, “For her lack of loyalty to the king and queen of Thailand, for irresponsible behavior and spreading discord and sowing discord among royal and civil servants and at the royal court, for acts of disobedience to the monarch,” a woman is deprived of “all titles and military ranks and all royal and state awards ".

Sininat Wongwajirapakdi (center) and the king (left) | Source: AFP 2019
Sininat Wongwajirapakdi (center) and the king (left) | Source: AFP 2019

The life of the King of Thailand, Maha Watchiralongkon, is not boring. The only male heir was born and the future 10th king of the royal dynasty in 1952. His name - Vachiralongkorn - means "Thunderer". In his youth, he received military education in the UK and Australia, then served in intelligence. Monarch is a trained military aviator and helicopter pilot. In the 1970s, he fought and thus earned the respect of his subjects, which, however, then often came to an end, because the heir to the throne had been a freak all his life with a grand scale and imagination. In total, the loving monarch, while still a prince, changed four wives, and it was difficult and not very beautiful to part with each.

King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit with Prince Wachiralongkorn and his sister, 1955
King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit with Prince Wachiralongkorn and his sister, 1955

In 1977 he was married to a cousin-princess, but after three years the marriage broke up. This happened because of the aspiring actress Yuvahdide, who gave birth to the prince of five children. By the way, because of this woman, Vachiralongkorny then "got nuts" from his father-king. For the unauthorized assignment of a high title to his mistress, he cut his content. However, the unlucky heir still did it his own way, and over time, Yuvahdide became his second official wife, but she did not stay in this status for long either. In 1995, the prince openly accused her of treason. The passions that boiled at the same time were worthy of Shakespeare's pen: the angry spouse threw all the clothes of the traitor into the street and sent her nude photo to all the newspapers in Bangkok. This is the kind of temperament that monarchs have! The ex-wife, in response, took the children and flew away to live abroad. To sue at least one princess daughter, the Thai royal family then specifically turned to the Queen of Great Britain for help.

Prince Wachiralongkorn with third wife Srirasmi Suwadi
Prince Wachiralongkorn with third wife Srirasmi Suwadi

In 2001, the loving prince makes another attempt to find family happiness. Now a commoner becomes his chosen one. The marriage was hidden for several years, until the crown prince was born, after which it became difficult. This union still remains the longest for the monarch, but it also fell apart in 2014, and now the divorce was associated with high-profile corruption scandals - the relatives of the princess were not clean on their hands and began to use their position. Even the princess herself was arrested.

Prince with family in Paris in 2007
Prince with family in Paris in 2007

In general, there were too many scandals in the prince's life until he ascended the throne: huge gambling debts; the poodle Fufu, whom the prince promoted to air marshal and dressed up in a specially sewn military uniform; leaked media photos of Wachiralongkorn's third wife wearing only thongs (taken when she was not yet an official spouse); the appearance of the prince himself in public in a short "half-bump" top and jeans that were too low to be impossible in August 2016, a few months before his father's death.

And if the rumors were to be believed, the prince should have been jailed several times already. Allegedly, the girls, on whom the heir kept his gaze for more than five seconds, were necessarily brought to his chambers on the same day … allegedly he killed his mistress who infected him with a venereal disease … allegedly he was connected with bandits and dealt with personal enemies extremely brutally this unique heir really received the nickname "prince-gangster") … allegedly in the 80s the portraits of the bad prince suddenly disappeared from the houses of ordinary Thais, but images of his sister Sirindhorn appeared, who began to be called "princess angel" - people always tend to find antipodes in their addictions.

The Prince's Favorite and Air Marshal Fufu
The Prince's Favorite and Air Marshal Fufu

In the 1980s, too much was talked and written about the prince, but, unfortunately, almost nothing good:

(Columnist Michael Schmiker, for Wall Street Journal Asia)

(From Queen Sirikit's speech at a press conference in Texas)

Despite all the eccentricities of the prince, King Bhumibol Adunyadet could not choose another heir, and, according to the Constitution and traditions, on the night of December 1, 2016, on the fiftieth day after the death of Bhumibol, the heads of the three branches of government of the country gathered to meet with Wachiralongkon. He was invited to ascend the throne as the tenth king of the Chakri dynasty. He waited another three years for the official coronation, and on May 1, 2019, a few days before this event, the 66-year-old king announced that he had married his beloved. The new queen was Suthide Wachiralongkon, a former flight attendant and head of Wachiralongkorn's personal security.

Portrait of Wachiralongkorn in the status of the future king and on banknotes
Portrait of Wachiralongkorn in the status of the future king and on banknotes

And now, after several months of calm, the royal family of Thailand has delighted the whole world with a new scandal, now with the official demoted "consort". This title (it can probably be equated to the "main favorite" at the French court in the Middle Ages), the king bestowed on the major general of his personal guard Sininat Wongwajirapakdi literally two months after the wedding, in order to calm this active lady, who wants to get some kind of valid status and claim your rights. Let's omit the fact that the king's personal guard is, it seems, a real “forge of personnel” in Thailand, and just rejoice for the already middle-aged Wachiralongkorn. After all, 67 years is the age when our domestic Don Juans retire and for the most part become regular visitors to pharmacies and clinics, and Rama X made a love scandal all over the world and, apparently, not the last.

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