Thai crown prince’s pet poodle Foo Foo laid to rest
Air Chief Marshal Foo Foo, the pet poodle of Thailand's crown prince, has been cremated after four days of Buddhist funeral rites, prompting a surge of coded social media comments in the troubled kingdom, where it is illegal to openly discuss the looming royal succession.
Air Chief Marshal Foo Foo, the pet poodle of Thailand's crown prince, has been cremated after four days of Buddhist funeral rites, prompting a surge of coded social media comments in the troubled kingdom, where it is illegal to openly discuss the looming royal succession.
Thailand has been engulfed by chronic political turmoil since 2005, due partly to an unacknowledged conflict among the elite over who will become monarch when the ailing 87-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies.
Although Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is the official heir, he is unpopular and has been embroiled in several scandals. Many Thais would prefer his younger sister, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, to inherit the throne, but palace law does not allow a female monarch.
Unable to openly discuss their doubts about the crown prince and anxiety over the future of the monarchy, Thais express their views about the royal family more subtly. Photographs of Foo Foo's funeral rites were widely shared on social media over the past week as news spread that the 17-year-old poodle had died, and hundreds of Thais responded to the death by making ironic online comments and oblique hints about the succession.
A secret succession struggle that had simmered for decades exploded into the open in 2007 when opponents of the crown prince leaked a video showing the 30th birthday party of his third wife Princess Srirasm in 2001. The footage, which caused a sensation in Thailand, showed the princess wearing only a g-string in the presence of several courtiers and lying on the floor to eat cake beside Foo Foo.
A few months after the video was leaked, US ambassador Ralph "Skip" Boyce hosted a gala dinner at which the crown prince was the guest of honour. Seated beside Srirasm, Boyce began discussing the subject of royal pets. .
"I mentioned having heard Princess Sirindhorn had a large dog, and I asked Srirasm if she knew the breed. Srirasm appeared immediately to freeze up; her body language changed, and she said curtly that she knew nothing of Sirindhorn's affairs," Boyce wrote.
"Her reaction was interesting, given a widespread, longstanding perception that Sirindhorn may somehow edge out the crown prince as successor to the King," he added.
Boyce also confirmed Foo Foo had been awarded a senior rank in the Royal Thai Air Force.
