King of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn – “Don Juan”, a rich man and fashionista who rules the country from Germany

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At the end of July, one of the strangest and most controversial monarchs in the world will celebrate his seventieth birthday. This, of course, is about the King of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who rules under the name of Rama X.

The name Vajiralongkorn means “illumined by the radiance of jewels or lightning”. He was born on July 28, 1952 and was the long-awaited son of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit. The monarch already had a daughter, Ubol Ratana, but the birth of a male heir was considered vital to the ruling Chakri dynasty founded in 1782 by Rama I. The absolute monarchy in Thailand was abolished in 1932. As a result of the abdication of the throne in 1935 by King Rama VII in favor of the ten-year-old nephew of Ananda Mahedon, for whom the regents ruled, there was no full-fledged monarch in the country for 11 years. On June 9, 1946, the young king was found shot to death in his bedroom. He was succeeded by his younger brother Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose reign was one of the longest in world history. He needed a son so that the transfer of the throne did not raise any questions and did not lead to another political unrest. But Maha Vajiralongkorn, already in his youth, showed himself not as a successor to his father’s work, but as a living threat to the authority of the monarchy.

Perhaps the fact is that the heir to the throne was brought up not at home by loving parents, but in foreign prestigious educational institutions. The future king attended kindergarten and primary school in Bangkok, but after completing his seventh year of study, he was sent to Europe, where he was educated at boarding schools in Britain. After that, he moved to Australia, where he completed a five-week military training at the Royal School in Sydney, then studied for several years at the Royal Military College Duntroon, and then received a law degree from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. In 1972, he was formally proclaimed crown prince, after which he served in the Thai armed forces. Therefore, Rama X has an officer’s title and a license to fly civil and military aircraft. According to the BBC, it happens that when traveling abroad, he himself sits at the helm of his Boeing-737.

Today, the King of Thailand has few powers, but he plays an important role in the unity of the nation. Meanwhile, by the end of the 70s, the country was talking about the heir to the throne’s passion for women, gambling, and his participation in illegal financial transactions. These conversations were conducted in an undertone, because the criminal code of Thailand provides for one of the most severe punishments in the world for those who “defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir or regent.” This clause has existed since the creation in 1908 of the first criminal code in the country, and in 1976 the punishment was toughened, and criticism of the monarch threatens the subject with imprisonment for a term of three to fifteen years. The only person who dared to publicly criticize the vices of the heir to the throne was his mother, Queen Sirikit. In 1981, she mentioned these problems, calling her son a “good boy” but “a little Don Juan.” As reported by the British radio station BBC, Sikirit lamented that her son prefers to spend the weekend with beautiful women, rather than fulfill his duties as heir to the throne. True, he himself, during a rare meeting with Thai journalists in 1992, denied rumors of connections with the underworld. But the monarch, who was married four times and has seven children, could not disown his love for women under any circumstances.

The first wife of the 25-year-old prince and the mother of his eldest daughter was his cousin Princess Mom Luang Soamsawali Kitiyakara. They had a daughter, but the marriage did not last long: the prince became interested in the young actress Yuvadhida Polpraset, in union with whom four sons and a daughter appeared. At first, he was in no hurry to legitimize these relations, and only allowed the chosen one to take a new name – Mom Sujarini Mahidol. It determined her status as a commoner, paired with a special royal family. And yet in 1994 he divorced his first wife. But the new marriage did not last even two years. The wife took the children and flew to the UK, from where she later moved to the USA, and Rama again filed for divorce, publicly condemning her, renouncing their common children and depriving them of royal titles. True, later their daughter, Princess Sirivannavari, returned to Thailand. Now she leads the life of a socialite, works as a model and fashion designer, and in recent years often acts as a representative of the royal family at official events.

The next wife of the future king was again a commoner – Srirasmi Akharaphongpricha. The king promised that this marriage would be the last. The newly-born princess bore him a son who became the official heir to the throne, but 13 years later this marriage ended in a scandalous break. Her relatives were deprived of honorary titles and titles because of their participation in corruption schemes, and she herself went to prison.

Only the fourth wife of Rama X, 40-year-old Suthide, became the Queen of Thailand, who was the head of his personal guard with the rank of army general. Prior to that, she worked for Thai Airways. Their marriage took place just a few days before the coronation of Maha Vajiralongkorn.

He became a monarch at an advanced age – at the age of 66. Rama X was proclaimed king on December 1, 2016, on the 50th day after his father’s death, but the ceremony was postponed for three years – he decided to ask for a delay in order to observe mourning. The coronation took place at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. She was preceded by a ritual of purification, during which the monarch was washed with water from more than a hundred sources from all over the country. After that, he personally crowned himself with a 7.3-kilogram “Big Crown of Victory” adorned with precious stones. In addition, Rama X was carried around the capital of Thailand for six hours on a luxurious palanquin, which was carried by 16 people, who changed every five hundred meters of the way. It was the first such ceremony in the country for almost 70 years – since May 5, 1950, when his predecessor and father were enthroned. About $31 million was spent on it. But he can afford it: with a fortune of 56 billion euros, Rama X is considered one of the richest monarchs in the world.

Having become king, Vajiralongkorn expanded his powers, became more actively involved in the political life of the country, but does not enjoy sympathy with ordinary Thais. Photos appear on social networks every now and then, in which he is depicted in a revealing outfit surrounded by a harem. Some of these pictures were taken during the monarch’s stay in Germany. Shortly after taking the throne, he demanded changes to the constitution that would allow him to spend time outside of Thailand without appointing a regent, effectively allowing him to rule the country from abroad. Now he spends most of his time abroad.

German media reports that he allegedly owns a €10 million house in the town of Tutzing on the shores of the Starnberger See lake in the foothills of the Alps and spends most of his time at the chic Hotel Sonnenbichl in the German resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. His long absence from his homeland causes a lot of controversy in Thailand. Fuel is added to the fire by the German media, which are “hunting” for the king of Thailand, regularly reporting on what he is doing in Germany. For example, there were recent press reports that Vajiralongkorn purchased a new luxury aircraft for 332 million euros. In addition, the German tabloid Bild wrote that the king is going to transport most of his valuables to Germany for safekeeping.