THRONE OF CHAOS

Royal drama

MAHA the KING OF CHAOS

He was once a petulant playboy prince, now he’s one of the world’s richest and most unpredictable rulers. William Langley investigates the eccentric world of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

As he swayed through the streets of Bangkok aboard a gilded litter, Thailand’s newly-crowned King Maha Vajiralongkorn looked down on scenes of deference and rejoicing. Last May’s spectacular coronation had been months in the planning, and the 67-year-old king, despite a reputation for quirkiness, seemed settled on a smooth transition. A lmost nothing since has followed in the discreet ways of the 800-yearold monarchy. Insiders speak of a court in chaos, feuds, betrayals and conspiracies, as four-times married Maha purges the royal ranks, promotes his favourites and seeks to establish himself as a near-absolute monarch. P rominent among the casualties is the king’s ‘official concubine’, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, a glamorous 34-yearold former bodyguard, who m he dismissed after publicly accusing her of “disloyalty and ingratitude”. Known around the palace as Koi, the willowy martial arts instructress was appointed to the post three months after Maha’s coronation, and showered with honours including the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant (special class). Koi’s dismissal sent shockwaves through a nation which had barely absorbed the idea of the king keeping a formal mistress alongside his wife, 41-year-old Queen Suth id a. Within hours of Koi’s fall, all references to her disappeared from the palace website, and her photograph was removed from state buildings. “Noble Royal Consort Sineenat is ungrateful and behaves in ways unbecoming of her title,” said a palace statement. “She is not content with the honour bestowed upon her and does everything to rise to the level of the Queen.” To many royal observers, the wording clearly hinted at a power struggle between the two women in Maha’s life, in which Koi had come off worse. The concubine’s whereabouts and current status are now unknown, with a royal spokesman saying: “This lady is no longer our concern” . T he post of concubine was assumed to have become defunct in Thailand during the Fifth Reign, which lasted from around 1850-1910 and saw the country’s emergence as a modern state under the revered King Rama V. “It’s pretty archaic, and most people today would find it ridiculous ,” says Tannawat Suttirat, publisher of a ➝

London-based Thai newsletter. “T he feeling is that the queen went bananas and forced Koi out, but these days it’s hard to know anything for sure.” W hat can be said is that the British and Australianeducated Maha is one of the more eccentric monarchs of modern times. His coronation procession through Bangkok, wearing the multi-tiered Great Crown of Victory and accompanied by a troupe of elephants, marked the first time most Thais had set eyes on him. Sustained by a large hereditary fortune, Maha has spent most of his adult years enjoying a leisurely life in Europe and the United States, returning home only for visits and state occasions. S uch word as Thailand had of him was not encouraging. In 2007 he appointed his miniature poodle , Foo Foo , an air chief marshal in the Royal Thai Air Force. A leaked diplomatic cable from Ralph Boyce, US ambassador to Bangkok, recounts Foo Foo attending a gala dinner “in formal attire, complete with white paw mitts”. At one point, recalled the ambassador, the pooch jumped onto the table and began drinking from guests’ glasses. When Foo-Foo died, he was accorded full military and Buddhist honours and days of state mourning. A s long as Maha’s father, popular King Bhumibol, remained on the throne, Thais felt able to overlook such antics. The scholarly, saxophoneplaying Bhumibol was seen as a unifying power in a frequently fractious country. But when the king died in 2016 after 70 years on the throne, the prospect of Maha, his only son, taking his place became worryingly real. There were reports of crisis meetings across the political sphere, and influential magazine Asia Sentinel denounced Maha as “an erratic and out-of-control womaniser, wholly incapable of ruling” –only to be banned on royal orders.

Out of favour

Royal consort Sineenat was showered with honours, rising through the military to rank of Major General. Three months after Maha’s coronation she was dismissed, accused of undermining the queen. Her whereabouts and status are unknown.

Yet, according to Andrew M a cGregor Marshall, author of A Kingdom in Crisis , Bhumibol had serious doubts about allowing his son to succeed: “The Crown Prince was a disappointment to the king,” says Marshall, “and he tried to make him shape up. He restricted his money to stop him partying. He even suggested that if the prince didn’t improve, he’d give the throne to his daughter, Princess Sirindhorn. He thought his son would be a poor king, but he was a conservative man, and he thought a man should succeed him.” M aha, the second of Bhumibol’s four children, was born in the sprawling Dusit Palace and had a conventional royal childhood before being sent to board at Millfield, Britain’s most expensive private school. Music critic Rupert Christiansen, a fellow pupil, remembers him as an overweight, clumsy outsider, who took comfort from “guzzling compulsively on Thai specialities stored in a seemingly bottomless trunk kept under his bed.” M aha went on to spend a term at T he King’s School, Sydney, followed by enrolment at the Royal Military College , Duntroon, near Canberra. It was after his return to Thailand that the story of his life grew murkier. To impress his father, he took various roles in the Thai armed forces, amassing an impressive array of ranks, including Field Marshal, Admiral of the Fleet and Marshal of the Royal Air Force, but seemed increasingly distracted by romantic liaisons and a preference for living outside Thailand.

Court of contrasts

King Bhumibol (below, with Maha and Queen Sirikit), was popular and seen as a unifying force. In contrast, Maha has behaved bizarrely, making his poodle Foo Foo an air chief marshall in the air-force, and demanding his wife show subservience during their wedding.

Royal drama

Before his accession to the throne, his main base had been Tutzing, a sleepy village in southern Germany where he and Suthida, a one-time airline stewardess, took over a magnificent 1920s lakeside villa. “They seemed to live a quiet life, and we have had no problems,” says the village’s deputy mayor Elisabeth Dörrenberg, “although we had to ask them to remove some security cameras.” Locals say Maha would fly in to Munich airport aboard a private Boeing 737 and arrive in the village in a $200,000 Porsche 911, followed by a large entourage. With a fondness for tank tops and tight jeans, he spent much time on Lake Starnberg, aboard a powerboat, in which he and Suthida used to visit the region’s quaint waterside restaurants. Little is known of Suthida’s life and the palace provides only scant details. It seems she was born in Pattani, a poor, ethnically divided province, where she went to a local school, before taking a course in communications in Bangkok. After graduating, she found a job as a stewardess with Thai Airways, where it’s thought she met Maha on one of his regular flights in and out of the country. In 2010 she joined the Thai army, and within two years had risen to the rank of Lieut. Colonel. Among the accolades she received was a medal for “services and sacrifices” to the Crown Prince. In one of a number of pictures taken of Suthida at the time, she wears a scarlet guard’s tunic, matching lipstick and a bearskin hat. In spite of their cosy living arrangements, Sudhita was not, at that time, married to the prince. As far as the outside world knew, they weren’t even in a relationship. Maha’s first wife, Princess Soamsawali, was also his first cousin and mother of his daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha. They divorced in 1993. Maha and his second wife, Princess Sujarinee Mahidol, divorced acrimoniously in ’96 and she and her sons fled to the USA, where they were granted asylum. By the time Sudhita met Maha, he was married to his third wife, Princess Srirasmi, a former waitress who first ➝

Royal drama

entered the royal household as a lady-inwaiting. Rumours of the couple’s unconventional lifestyle were fuelled by the emergence of a video showing Srirasmi wearing nothing but a Panama hat and a black G-string, hosting a birthday party for Foo-Foo. In one scene she appears to eat cake out of the dog’s bowl, followed by the royal couple singing Happy Birthday. T hese bizarre frolics came to an end in 2014, when Maha stripped Siriasmi of her titles and banished her from court. S everal members of her family were arrested and jailed . A lmost nothing has been heard of her since, and some reports say she has left the country. O n May 1, three days before his coronation, Maha married Suthida , in a lavish ceremony which involved her crawling to his feet to be patted on the head with a lotus flower. Experts on royal protocol were divided as to how much of this show of subservience was necessary, but for now the country may have bigger things to worry about. F ew doubt Maha is set on establishing something close r to absolute rule. A purge in October saw the sacking of more than a dozen senior courtiers –some for what the palace described as “extremely evil conduct”, others for “moral laxity” and “disobedience”. At the same time, Maha has taken command of two crack army units, neutered the Privy Council (a onceinfluential advisory body) and sent hundreds of civil servants on special courses to improve their “loyalty” to the crown. Observers noted when Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha took his oath of office earlier this year, the traditional pledge of obedience to the king remained intact, while the promise to uphold the constitution had mysteriously vanished. “ The system has delivered us a n apparently half-mad king who knows no boundaries,” an unnamed politician Right: The King’s unconventional lifestyle included arriving at Munich airport with Foo Foo and Suthida wearing fake tattoos and a skimpy tank top.

told Asia Sentinel. Joshua Kurlantzick, a South-East Asia specialist at America’s Council of Foreign Relations says: “Since taking the throne, Maha has manoeuvre d himself to the centre of Thai politics, decreasing the power of the army and politicians along the way. He seems intent on pushing the country closer to absolute monarchy.” A lthough Thailand is nominally a parliamentary democracy, the real power lies between the military and the throne. As neither institution feels strong enough to rule without the other, an uneasy accord has existed for decades, which Maha now seems set on smashing. To millions of Thais, the king is an infallible deity, the very core of the nation’s soul. Pictures of the monarch are everywhere, with all public buildings, hotels, restaurants and most homes having one on display. In public squares the royal anthem is played most mornings and evenings, and passersby are expected to stop and sing .

76 The Australian Women’s Weekly | FEBRUARY 2020 King Maha’s lavish coronation in May 2019. Below: Posters on the streets of Bangkok. It is an offence to do or say anything deemed insulting to the royals.

GETTY IMAGES. A ll this devotion is buttressed by laws of lèse -majeste, making it a serious offence to do or say anything deemed insulting to the royal family. Every year, hundreds are jailed for offences as trivial as spitting in the vicinity of a royal palace or failing to stand for the anthem. In recent years, the law has been tightened to include deceased royals and penalties have increased, with one defendant being given a 60-year sentence for a Facebook post. Nothing suggests Maha is in the mood to ease off. W ith a fortune of more than $ 3 0 billion, the Thai royal family is the world’s wealthiest. It has also proved itself to be the wiliest and most resilient. Yet it has never had a ruler like Maha, the stroppy schoolboy grown into the man nobody wants to say no to. “ P eople are worried,” Tannawat says. “We’ve had all sorts of kings before –good ones, bad ones –but never one like Maha.” AWW

EXPERIENCE NORTHERN EUROPE LIKE NEVER BEFORE

Just like the original Vikings, we are true innovators when it comes to exploring the world – and with our Explorer Sale now on, you could save up to $2,100 per couple on a wide range of our ocean cruises.

Our Northern Europe itineraries open the doorway to rich history and unique cultural experiences. With Viking you’ll explore historic city centres, marvel at rare works of art and architecture and indulge in the flavours of each destination.

Below are two of our exclusive Explorer Sale offers, visit our website to discover more.

VIKING HOMELANDS

Norwegian Sea

Lofoten (Leknes) Tromsø Arctic Circle Honningsvåg

Bergen NORWAY North Sea ENGLAND Geiranger Stavanger Helsinki St. Petersburg FINLAND Stockholm SWEDEN Eidfjord

Gdansk ‘ Baltic Sea Tallinn RUSSIA ESTONIA Copenhagen Ålborg Berlin (Warnemünde) DENMARK Orkney Islands (Kirkwall) Shetland Islands (Lerwick) Edinburgh SCOTLAND

London (Greenwich) GERMANY POLAND

BALTIC JEWELS & THE M I D N I G H T S U N

STOCKHOLM –BERGEN or vice versa 15 DAYS | 11 GUIDED TOURS | 8 COUNTRIES SET SAIL APR –SEP 2020; APR –SEP 2021 From $9,295pp in Veranda stateroom STOCKHOLM – LONDON or vice versa 29 DAYS | 19 GUIDED TOURS | 10 COUNTRIES SET SAIL MAY – JUN 2020; MAY – JUL 2021 From $19,995pp in Veranda stateroom

ENJOY, IT'S ALL INCLUDED

YOUR OWN PRIVATE VERANDA / CHOICE OF 8 DINING OPTIONS

BEER & WINE WITH LUNCH & DINNER