King of Thailand marries surprise with his bodyguard and turns her into queen – 05/02/2019

He, king by inheritance. She, former air hostess of Thai Airways. El, 66, eccentric and hectic. She, 40, and former bodyguard of him.

It is Maha Vajiralongkorn, this Saturday will be officially crowned King of Thailand, the throne that he has held since 2016, when his father is dead.

She is Suthida Tidjai, who accompanies the monarch today since 2014 as a member of a special real security corps.

This Thursday, Suthida is awake as new sovereignafter wed being married on Wednesday with Vajiralongkorn.

The wedding and the rendezvous were announced Wednesday night in the Royal Gazette, Thailand's official newspaper, while a video of the palace ceremony was broadcast by all national TV channels.

Little is known about the new queen, although she has been seen accompanying Vajiralongkorn in official acts since 2014 as a member of a special security corps.

Two years later, she was named General of the army and in 2017 he was elected Deputy Commissioner of the Monarch Security Service and "Thanpuying" one of the biggest titles of the nobility in Thailand.

It is about the fourth wife of the monarch, who has seven children of his ex-partners and who is known for his extended stays in Germany and his taste for flying planes.

In pink robes, Suthida and other badistants prostrated themselves before the ruler, dressed in white uniforms and with whom the new queen exchanged offerings before signing the marriage certificate.

The witnesses of the marriage were Princess Sirindhorn, sister of the monarch, and the President of the Royal Council, Prem Tinunlasonda.

Queen Suthida

"Her Majesty and General Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayutthaya are officially married in accordance with the law and traditions," reads in the official announcement published in the Royal Gazette, the official Gazette of Thailand.

The announcement adds that the ruler has named his wife "Queen suthida", a title that will now be "as a member of the royal family".

The wedding and the nomination take place shortly before the coronation ceremonies that will take place from May 4 to May 6, almost three years after the rise of King Vajiralongkorn's throne after his father's death. the venerable Bhumibol Adulyadej, in October 2016.

Vajiralongkorn will be crowned Saturday with a Buddhist and Hindu ritual, while the ruler will preside Sunday a procession through the streets of Bangkok and Monday, his subjects will be hosted by a balcony of the Grand Palais Royal.

Traditionally, proclamation and coronation of Thai kings are celebrated on different dates.

Due to the coronation, the authorities postponed the announcement of the election results of March 24, the first after the May 2014 coup, which should be announced on May 9.

With the official name of Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, the King of Thailand studied in private schools in the United Kingdom and Australia. He graduated in 1975 from the Royal Military Academy Duntroon, Canberra, and ten years later, he graduated in law.

He is an accomplished pilot of helicopters and aircraft, including the Northrop F-5, the Lockheed Martin F-16 and the Boeing 737-400.

Previous marriages

He was married for the first time in 1977 with Soamsavali Kitiyakara, a cousin on the mother's side who gave him a daughter, Bajrakitiyabha, and from whom he would divorce.

He then had a long and long relationship with actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth, who ended up in a marriage in 1994 and a separation in 1996 and the one he had had. Four children and a girl.

His third wife was Srirasmi Suwadee, with whom he married in 2001. Four years later, his son Dipangkorn Rasmijoti was born.

The marriage was dissolved in 2014, after the wife's family was accused of illicit enrichment using its proximity to the Royal House

Although he is amateur for fun, he is also considered a skilled strategist who knows the armed forces that control the country well.

According to journalistic sources, the new queen was known to her long-time partner.

Maha Vajiralongkorn, the only heir to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been preparing to rise to the throne since childhood.

"From the first second of my life, I'm a prince, it's hard to say what you feel when you're a fish, a bird when you're a bird," he said. BBC in a rare interview in 1979.

A taboo

A few days before the coronation, the court astrologer, Chatchai Pinngern, elaborated his horoscope in the temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok. But it will never be public because everything about the monarch It's taboo.

And poor man who breaks it, in this country the crime of lèse majesté is punished by years in prison

Since his accession to the throne, Maha Vajiralongkorn He did not change his habits too much.

Rarely in public, unlike his father, who visited the provinces of the kingdom without respite and whose annual speeches, broadcast on television, were political events expected and meticulously dissected.

Maha Vajiralongkorn, one of the richest monarchs in the world, spends much of his time in Germany, where he owns several residences and enjoys flying his Boeing 737.

"A way to escape the ceremonial yoke of Thailand," said Sophie Boisseau du Rocher, Thailand specialist at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).

His repeated absences do not prevent him from being very involved in the affairs of the monarchy, which he has remodeled in depth since 2016, by deleting several constitutional amendments that delimit his powers and ensure the direct control of royal coffers.

"He is also more directly involved in politics than his father," said Eugenie Merieau, a specialist in Thai politics, who described it as: "uncompromising".

"He is not impulsive but he may be angry, he hardly supports the questioning of his authority," he said anonymously, to a Thai businessman working for the palace.

"It is difficult to discern that much of the mystery that is cultivated makes it distant and sometimes disturbing," he added.

Source: AFP and EFE