Thailand’s unpredictable king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, who is undergoing mass protests in Bankok, has now been accused of breaking his sister’s ankles.
The shocking allegation was reported by Andrew MacGregor Marshall, the former head of Reuters’ Bangkok office, in his signature-only newsletter, Secret Siam.
Marshall, who is free to quote his Thai sources without fear of the country’s violent censorship laws since he left Asia, reports that the king allegedly attacked her after she was brought down by his dogs. Insiders claimed that he jumped on her legs or hit her with a cane.
The attack was allegedly motivated by her confronting him about his plans to make his official consort a second queen, alongside his current wife, Queen Suthida.
Thai nobility have recently been alive with rumors that King Maha X should elevate his official consort, Sineenat “Koi” Wongvajirapakdi, to full queen status.
The proposed scheme apparently went wrong with his sister, Princess Sirindhorn, who went to see her brother to try to change his mind about two weeks ago.
It seems to have been a bad idea; the palace recently announced that Sirindhorn injured both ankles in a fall and was taken to hospital, but, MacGregor Marshall says, citing “well-located sources” in “informed palace networks”, that is less than half the story.
In fact, he claims, “a furious fight broke out” during the meeting and, “she was knocked over by one of Vajiralongkorn’s dogs, and while she was lying on the floor he hit her ankles or hit them with a cane, shattering both. “
MacGregor Marshall says Sirindhorn was operated on both ankles at Chulalongkorn Hospital and is unlikely to walk again for several months.
An announcement about Koi’s promotion to Thailand’s second queen was planned for Tuesday, her birthday. In what may be a precursor to a later official announcement, the pair made a public appearance wearing matching blue coats while releasing fish and birds at a Buddhist ceremony at Wasukri pier in Bangkok. Unlike a report in the German newspaper Bild, an official announcement of its upgrade has not yet been made.
If Koi is indeed promoted to the position of queen, it will mark a remarkable return for the 35-year-old former nurse.
Koi was not released from prison until August of last year, after spending ten months in a penitentiary. She had been accused of fighting with the queen, but was then declared “immaculate” and restored to her role as official consort to 68-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
By the time rumors of her release were circulating, more than a thousand photos of her, including alleged nudes, were sent on SD cards to MacGregor Marshall and Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai scholar and avowed critic of the monarchy.
The king only married his current and fourth wife, Suthida, in May 2019, just days before his coronation. He divorced his third wife in 2014. The relationship was made famous by a leaked video showing his birthday cake feeding his poodle, Fufu, while she wore only a thong and courtiers crawled on the floor in front of her and the king.
Fufu appeared in an earlier embarrassing incident: Cables written by Eric John when he was the US ambassador to Bangkok, published by Wikileaks, detailed the king’s strange obsession with the dog. Diplomatic cables said he adored Fufu and gave him the title of chief marshal of aeronautics. He allegedly took the dog to an official dinner “dressed in a formal evening gown complete with paw gloves”, where he drank from the guests’ glasses of water.
Thailand is battling a deep recession caused by COVID-19 and the collapse of the fundamental tourist trade.
Opponents of the ultra-rich royal family have been encouraged in recent months, with student demonstrations against the system that have seen their numbers increase.
Protesters recently began to protest wearing short tops, exposing their bellies to mock the king, who was photographed wearing similar clothes at German airports and shopping centers.
The protests were ignited by reports of the king’s vast wealth, estimated by the Financial Times between $ 30 billion and $ 40 billion, after sovereign wealth funds were effectively brought under their direct control by the leaders of a successful 2014 coup.
He is considered the richest king in the world.
As The Daily Beast recently reported, Vajiralongkorn would also have built an extraordinary fleet of 38 jets and helicopters for the exclusive use of the Thai royal family.
He has spent much of the past few years living in Germany, most recently at the Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl in Garmish-Partenkirchen, where his entourage of 20 concubines who received the same honorary surname has also damaged his domestic and international reputation.
The email addresses provided on Thai government websites did not work, with emails from The Daily Beast requesting comments being returned. However, the Thai royal family does not normally comment in response to questions from the press, in part because criticizing the royal family in the media is an offense under strict lèse majesté Thai law provisions.
At the last count, according to a count by the Prachatai news agency, at least 55 people now face lesa majesty charges.