Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn returns to Germany, with entourage of 250 people and 30 poodles
- Tabloid newspaper photographs the 69-year-old monarch at Munich’s Hilton Airport hotel swimming pool, accompanied by a younger woman said to be a security guard
- The king’s presence in his adopted Bavarian home has been controversial in both Germany and Thailand. His latest trip coincides with a court verdict that analysts say could be used to crack down on pro-democracy protesters
The tabloid-style Bild newspaper published a picture of what it said was the 69-year-old monarch wearing a dark brown and orange Adidas track suit on the way to the public swimming pool of the Hilton Airport hotel in Munich. The newspaper said the king had arrived in Munich on Monday and that a 250 member entourage had booked the entire fourth floor of the airport hotel for 11 days.
The picture that Bild published showed an elderly man resembling the monarch wearing a mask and escorted by a younger woman wearing a similar track suit that the newspaper said was a security guard.
“All of a sudden the director of the hotel and the king’s security detail came up to me and demanded that I delete the pictures,” Bild reporter Karl Keim said. He said he then called the police for protection from their demands, which were not consistent with German press freedom regulations. “The king’s security detail wouldn’t let me out of their sight. So the police accompanied me to my car.”