THAILAND’s eccentric King has made his mistress a royal consort – in an awkward ceremony attended by his new wife.
King Maha Vajiralangkornm, 67, used ceremonial water to anoint his
long-term girlfriend Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, 34, while she lay at his
feet on Sunday.
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His new wife Queen Suthida, who was sat next to her husband during the televised service, showed no emotion as Vajiralongkorn splashed water on his fancy woman.
The mistress lay on the floor at her lover’s feet during the ceremony, in accordance with Thailand’s royal tradition.
This is the first time a Thai king has practised polygamy since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.
Sineenat also received four medals, including the "most noble order of the crown of Thailand" and the "most exalted order of the white elephant, special class".
ROYAL MISTRESS
Vajiralongkorn also praised her work as senior officer in his personal bodyguard, the Ratchawallop Police Retainers.Sineenat, known as Koi, also holds the rank of major-general and was born Niramon Ounprom.
She formerly worked as a nurse at the Ananda Mahidol army hospital.
Her elevation comes less than three months after the monarch’s marriage to former Thai Airways stewardess Suthida, 41, known as Nui, who had been his consort for some years.
In May, official photos showed Queen Suthida laying on the floor as she was given a gift by the king during her wedding ceremony to the monarch.
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Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn makes his wife lie at his feet in surprise wedding ceremony
The surprise announcement was carried
in the Royal Gazette and footage from Wednesday's wedding ceremony was
later shown on the nightly Royal News segment aired on all Thai
television channels.Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known by the title King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016, after 70 years on the throne.
He is due to be officially crowned in elaborate Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies on Saturday, followed by a procession through Bangkok the next day.
In 2014, Vajiralongkorn appointed Suthida Tidjai, a former flight attendant for Thai Airways, as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit.
CROPTOP SHOCK
Some royal observers and foreign media had linked Suthida romantically with the king, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between them.The king made Suthida a full general in the Royal Thai Army in December 2016, and the deputy commander of the king's personal guard in 2017.
He also made her a Thanpuying, a royal title meaning Lady during the lavish ceremony.
However, the king's pristine ceremonial outfit was a far cry from the outrageous croptop and low-slung jeans he was once spotted wearing while wandering around a German shopping centre.
The monarch even threatened to sue Facebook over the startling shots, taken in 2016 by a passer-by who recognised the king.
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But the king’s bizarre dress sense is just the tip of the iceberg for this clearly very different monarch.
Indeed, his string of failed marriages and apparently insatiable appetite for women - his own mother Queen Sirikit branded him a womaniser - has had Thais quietly gossiping for years.
During a 1982 trip to the US, Sirikit said: “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.”
Maha has ruled Thailand since the death last year of his father who was married to Sirikit for 66 of those years.
FOUR WIVES
But in stark contrast to his father, Brit-educated Maha has already divorced three times - and is now on his FOURTH wife.In 1977 he married his first wife — his cousin, Princess Soamsawali Kitiyakara.
They had a daughter, Bajrakitiyabha, but the relationship was doomed from the start.
During the marriage Maha fathered four sons and a daughter with his mistress, actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth.
They began living together but his wife refused to divorce him.
Finally, in 1993, he sued for divorce, laying the blame for the failed relationship entirely at Soamsawali’s feet.
He married Yuvadhida the following year but after a mysterious bust-up two years later, she fled to the UK to escape her husband.
Livid Maha ordered posters to be placed all around his palace accusing her of adultery with a 60-year-old Thai air marshal.
SECRET MARRIAGE
The prince then had his daughter brought back to Thailand. His four sons say they were banned from returning by their father.In a letter written in 2011 they said: “We were ordered by our father not to return home to Thailand. We were afraid to risk even demonstrating the slightest inference of disrespect toward the Royal Family.”
In 2001 the king married his third wife — former waitress Srirasmi Suwadee, who had been in his service since 1992.
He kept the marriage secret from the public until 2005, when she gave birth to their son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti.
Maha even told a magazine it was his intention to settle down.
The pair bought a poodle, Foo Foo, which Maha became devoted to in a way that even the most ardent dog lover would find extreme.
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In 2007 Foo Foo was a guest at a reception held by the US Ambassador Ralph Boyce.
In a leaked document, Mr Boyce said: “Foo Foo was present at the event, dressed in formal evening attire complete with paw mitts.
“At one point during the band’s second number, he jumped up on to the head table and began lapping from the guests’ water glasses, 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.”
Foo Foo hit the headlines once again when a video from its birthday party surfaced online.
It appears to show topless Srirasmi lying on the floor in just a G-string, feeding cake to the dog.
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