Thai Palace Releases Images Of The Kings Consort, And They Are Quite Something

Thailand’s royal palace has released rare photos of King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his recently anointed royal consort.

The unprecedented pictures show the 67-year-old monarch and 34-year-old Sineenatra Wongvajirabhakdi in formal regalia, as well as in casual settings and caused the royal website to briefly crash.

The unusually candid images show the king’s former bodyguard in a fighter jet, wearing a crop top and dressed in combat fatigues with him and the royal poodle.

Some of the pictures are in the usual royal tradition, with Sineenat wearing Thai dress and sitting at the king’s feet.

She was named Chao Khun Phra Sineenatra Bilasakalayani last month, becoming the first to receive the consort’s title since 1921, during an era of absolute monarchy.

The king married Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya, a general in his security unit, in May a few days before his coronation and named her his queen.

Suthida is reported to be 40 and to have previously worked as a flight attendant for Thai Airways International. The two reportedly met on a flight.

Vajiralongkorn has had three previous marriages and divorced his previous wife, with whom he has a son, in 2014. He became king after the death of his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016.

He was officially crowned in May in an elaborate centuries-old royal tradition last seen seven decades ago.

The elaborate ceremony came amid more than a decade of political strife, including a 2014 military coup and a contentious election earlier this year. 

The king took the crown from the chief Brahmin, a Hindu priest who has played a guiding part in the mixed Buddhist-Hindu ceremony, during a televised ritual from the Grand Palace.

The 200-year-old, 16lb heavy crown was handed to the king, known as Rama X, as part of the third and final rite of the coronation ceremony, the presentation of royal regalia.

Earlier, the king wore a simple white robe as he entered a small pavilion where he was briefly showered with water from several holy rivers and ponds and other sources.

Other water was poured on him from old royal water vessels. The rite, known as the Royal Purification Ceremony, was accompanied by music from drums, conch shells and other instruments. Outside the palace, artillery was fired in a salute to the monarch.