Thai king reinstates titles for royal consort, says she was ‘never a tarnished person’

Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi became royal consort last year before being removed from the position just months later

She had previously joined the king’s bodyguard corps, where she completed a variety of military courses

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Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn with royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:25pm, 2 Sep 2020Updated: 10:03pm, 2 Sep 2020

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn on Wednesday announced that his royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi has been reinstated after she was spectacularly removed from the position last year.

Former royal bodyguard Sineenat – known by her nickname “Koi” – was initially given the title of royal consort on the king’s 67th birthday in July 2019, the first time in nearly a century a Thai monarch had taken a consort.

Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi adjusting her pilot’s helmet in a military aircraft during training. Photo: EPA

It was accompanied by palace-approved images of Koi wearing combat fatigues shooting weapons, flying a jet and preparing to parachute from a plane, as well as holding the king’s hand. It was an intimate and rare glimpse into the private life of Thailand’s powerful, ultra-wealthy and inscrutable monarch, known as Rama X of the Chakri dynasty.

However, only a few months later, the king stripped his 34-year-old consort of all titles for “disloyalty” and apparent “ambition” to match the status of Queen Suthida, the king’s fourth wife.

Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida wave to well-wishers after a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother, near the Grand Palace in Bangkok on August 12. Photo: Handout via Reuters

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