Maha Wachiralongkorn was born on July 28, 1952, in Bangkok, Thailand. The only son of the King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX; 1946-2016) and Queen Sirikit. In total, the royal family has four children.
He received his primary education in Thailand, later he studied in private schools in Great Britain and Australia. In 1976 he graduated from the Royal Military College in Dantrune (Australia), and for some time he underwent military training in the United States. In 1982 he received his Master of Arts degree from Sukhothai Tammatirat University in Bangkok.
Crown prince
On December 28, 1972, Maha Wachiralongkorn was proclaimed Crown Prince.
From the mid-1970s. he was a career officer in the Royal Thai Army. He served in army intelligence and took part in military operations against the rebels of the Communist Party of Thailand in the north and northeast of the country and against Vietnamese guerrillas in the regions bordering Cambodia. In 1978 he headed the battalion of the King’s guard of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guard. In the same year, he interrupted the service in order, according to Buddhist tradition, to spend several weeks in a monastery. From 1984 he was the commander of the regiment of the king’s guard. According to some Thai media, in January 1992 he became the commander of the Royal Guard. Fighter aircraft pilot instructor. He holds the ranks of General of the Royal Army, Admiral of the Royal Navy, and Air Marshal of the Royal Thai Air Force.
In 2005, he received the right to fly a Boeing 737-400 and a civil aviation pilot certificate. In May 2009, his flight time exceeded 3,000 hours.
As heir to the throne in 1989, Maha Vachiralongkorn paid an official visit to the USSR. He was received in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, as well as in Crimea. In Thailand, on his initiative, several projects in educational and agricultural fields have been implemented. In recent years, Maha Wachiralongkorn, instead of his father, took part in the Royal ceremony of the first arable land, marking the beginning of the rice-growing season.
According to Western media reports, he lived abroad for many years, mainly in Germany.
King
On October 13, 2016, immediately after the death of Bhumibol Adulyadej, parliament was to call on the heir to take the throne. However, Maha Vachiralongkorn asked not to rush to the formal procedure and to allow him to “mourn with the nation.” On November 29, 2016, the country’s parliament officially invited Vachiralongkorn to ascend the throne. He became king on December 1, 2016, and was named Maha Vachiralongkorn Bodintharathepphayavarangkun (Rama X). At the same time, the official date of his accession to the throne is the day of his father’s death – October 13, 2016.
On April 6, 2017, Maha Wachiralongkorn signed Thailand’s new constitution. Its draft was approved at a national referendum back in August 2016, but in January 2017, at the request of the royal court, changes were made to it regarding the powers of the monarch, in particular, the appointment of a regent.
On May 4, 2019, he was officially crowned in Bangkok.
Awards
Maha Wachiralongkorn has received several state awards from Thailand and other countries. He is a Knight Commander of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri and the Order of the Nine Stones (Thailand), the Order of the Elephant (Denmark), the Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japan), the Order of Merit for the Federal Republic of Germany, etc.
A family
In 1977, Maha Vachiralongkorn married Princess Somsavali Kittiyakon (niece of Queen Sirikit, cousin of Vachiralongkorn), in 1978 they had a daughter, Princess Bachrakitiyabha (Phatchara Kitiyapha). The marriage soon broke up, but the couple was officially divorced only in 1991.
Since the late 1970s. Wachiralongkorn’s companion was the actress Yuvadhida Polpraset (married from 1994 to 1996), with whom he has four sons and a daughter. After the divorce, they moved to the UK with their mother and lost their royal titles. Later, the daughter of Yuvadhida Polpraserth – Sirivannavari Nariratana – returned to Thailand and was again elevated to the rank of princess.
The third wife (2001-2014; the fact of the marriage was hidden until 2005) is Srirasmi Suwadi, their son is Prince Tipangkorn Rasmichoti.
On May 1, 2019, Maha Vachiralongkorn announced that he was being married to General Suthida Vachiralongkorn, now known as Queen Suthida. According to The Nation, she was born on June 3, 1978, and previously worked as a flight attendant for Thai Airways. In August 2014, she was appointed commander of the Crown Prince’s family guard. She then became commander of the Royal Guard’s Special Operations Unit and was promoted to the rank of general in December 2016.
Since the marriage took place by the law and royal traditions, Queen Suthida from this time was entitled to all the privileges by the royal title and the status of the royal family. In July of the same year, she received consort status (i.e. official companion), but in October she was stripped of it for alleged acts of gross disobedience and abuse of her royal status. In September 2020, Maha Vachiralongkorn restored all titles and military ranks of his companion.
Criticism
Foreign media periodically reported scandals in which Maha Vachiralongkorn was implicated. In 2002, the British magazine “The Economist” wrote that he “behaves unworthily”, in 2010 – that he was “hated and feared by many” (in Thailand it is forbidden to criticize and insult members of the royal family, both editions of the publication were banned in the country). One of the extravagant acts of the king was the awarding of his beloved dog – the Poodle Fu Fu – the rank of Air Marshal.
