Footage of the King of Thailand wandering around a shopping mall in Munich sporting a skimpy yellow crop top and tattoos went viral last month after being uploaded to Facebook, and Thai authorities have been fighting to get the footage taken down ever since. Thai authorities announced a crackdown and threatened to punish anyone who even looked at the material. The Thai king, the crop top, and a poodle. To many Thais the new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn (pronounced Wa-cheera-long-kon) is less worthy of veneration: he is on his fourth marriage, spends most of his time in Germany and has sought to accumulate personal wealth and power, most recently by taking direct command of two army units in Bangkok. In Bangkok the authorities have arrested many protesters and charged some with sedition. In an unprecedented show of defiance, they are not only talking about the monarchy but openly criticising the way it operates. 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Thailand is putting the squeeze on Facebook to remove dozens of pages that have video of King Maha Vajiralongkorn wearing a crop top. There were also reports that another person who wore a crop top - the kind used by the Thai King - at the mock fashion show was also charged with lese majeste. Getty. The deliberate opacity of the monarchy doesn’t help. In a picturesque town in the German Alps lives the most unlikely of royalty. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn (far right), also known as Rama X, is seen wearing a crop top as he goes cycling with his wife and a large entourage in Switzerland +5 … When scraps of information about the royal family or images of the king do make it into the public domain, people pore over them, parsing the regal stage props: old fashioned Kremlinology for the media age. Within this informal alliance everyone worked to promote their mutual interests, a form of monarchical governance so unusual that a new term was coined to describe it: the “network monarchy”. Foo Foo also became a symbol for the playboy prince’s lifestyle. Members of Bavaria’s state parliament have asked whether the king is liable to pay tax locally. Article 112 of Thailand's criminal code says anyone who insults the king, queen, heir or regent can be punished with up to 15 years in prison for each offence. Image source: ibtimes.com. The murderers have never been identified. This photo, taken in 2017, prompted a crackdown by Thai authorities, Last month, the Thai King's queen had to lie down before him when they married just days before his coronation. However, it was not until a formal coronation in May 2019 that he was established as the fully-fledged monarch. The wealth of the Thai monarchy has grown under Vajiralongkorn. Protesters have started turning up to demonstrations in similar attire, a satirical comment not just on the king’s surprising sartorial choice but what they see as his wider rejection of Thailand and the standards of propriety demanded by his office. The king has … Poodles and crop tops: the king of Thailand in six objects Many Thais are finding it hard to venerate the new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn. Vajiralongkorn succeeded to the throne after the 2016 death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who reigned for seven decades. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Published on May 18, 2017 The King of Thailand went on a shopping trip in a crop top, someone posted it to Facebook and the King was NOT happy. On 16 May 2017, Thai officials warned Facebook after an online video was posted of the king wearing a crop top and with full view of his half sleeve tattoo. Dressed in black cycling leggings, a helmet and a tight purple top, the 66-year-old climbed on his bike before cycling off. While the king is back in Thailand for now, he normally lives in Germany. Bhumibol Adulyadej, the current king’s father, commanded genuine respect, though it wasn’t always clear where devotion ended and fear of transgressing the law began. Swiss police said they were not aware of the royal visitor. According to the report, the new King is domiciled in Bavaria where he owns two villas which makes him subject to local inheritance tax. Paraic O'Brien Correspondent. In 2018 the American embassy in Bangkok held an eye-opening exhibition to celebrate the relationship, entitled Great and Good Friends, a reference to a salutation American presidents used in addressing the “kings of Siam”. Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn (far right), also known as Rama X, is seen wearing a crop top as he goes cycling with his wife and a large entourage in Switzerland, The Thai monarch was pictured with his wife (who is in the white top) outside a hotel, where staff refused to comment. King Vajiralongkorn has said that Thailand is a ”land of compromise”, but many reckon the biggest scenes in this drama are still to come. While his day job required him to dress conservatively, King Vajiralongkorn has been spotted wearing a variety of different crop tops when he believes he is incognito. It was widely seen as a prescription for the Thai people. When Bhumibol ascended the throne in 1946 he was only 18, and at first depended heavily on generals, business and bureaucratic elites and foreign diplomats. In July 2017 Vajiralongkorn personally took over managing the bureau. Maha Vajiralongkorn (left) wears a white crop top at an airport earlier this year. Until recently, people rarely mentioned the royal family in public except to proclaim their loyalty to it. For years demonstrators in Thailand have staged intermittent protests against the coup-happy army (which is allied to the royal family) and its hold over the political realm. The COVID-19 VACCINE: Protecting YOU and the rest of the UK. But it’s a friendship with strings attached: there’s a murkier side to the bountiful displays of support and affection. King Bhumibol, a man who projected seriousness and dignity, even wrote a book about his pet mongrel Tondaeng, extolling the virtues of canine obedience. Unusually for a Thai king, however, Vajiralongkorn spends most of his time in Bavaria, where he has been snapped wearing skimpy crop tops, sometimes with elaborate temporary tattoos splayed across his back and arms. The picture revealed numerous tattoos, although these were said to be stick-ons rather than permanent. At a gala dinner for a jazz band from New Orleans, the dog attended wearing “formal evening attire complete with paw mitts”, according to an account relayed in a diplomatic cable later published by WikiLeaks. This new cohort of protesters identifies with the group of rebels fighting despotic oppression in The Hunger Games, a series of books and films for young adults. The comments below have been moderated in advance. Unusually for a Thai king, however, Vajiralongkorn spends most of his time in Bavaria, where he has been snapped wearing skimpy crop tops, sometimes with elaborate temporary tattoos splayed across his back and … The monarch has been snapped in a crop top before, notably during a shopping trip in Munich, Germany. The king’s unorthodox lifestyle is a growing headache for the government in Germany, too. The man once infamous for his mistresses, crop tops, and presumably fake tattoos now looks out sternly from portraits placed all over Thailand, dressed in kingly … The coronation jewels are a potent emblem of a powerful monarchy to which some older Thais feel an almost religious devotion. During the ceremony he was carried on a golden platform in a spectacular six-and-a-half-hour procession through Bangkok’s historic quarter. Information about the bureau’s activities is limited, but it is known to control large amounts of property in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand, some of it highly prized (the bureau was reported to have demanded only peppercorn rent for a sprawling plot it leased to the American government for the ambassador’s residence). His body was even adorned in FAKE tattoos. So far the royal response to recent demonstrations has been merely to ask the younger generation to “love the country and love the monarchy”. Labor will amend its national policy platform next year to recognise the “critical role” of gas to the economy and to express its support for new gas projects. Last year, the Thai Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn (who became King of Thailand in December) walked around a Munich shopping center sporting a little yellow crop top… ... such as wearing a tightfitting crop top over a bare torso on a … Why, it’s none other than the king himself, Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun. The crown’s height is supposed to evoke the summit of Mount Meru, the heart of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies. In Thailand King Vajiralongkorn is most often seen parading in his royal regalia, complete with a colourful array of medals. It's here that the King lives a life of luxury and quirkiness: walking through German shopping malls wearing crop tops and fake tattoos and hiring out an entire hotel to live in with his harem of lovers. THAILAND could lose all access to Facebook today after footage of its heavily-tattooed king strolling around in a crop top went viral. After the death of his father King Bhumibol in October 2016, Maha Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne as His Majesty King Rama X — meaning he is the tenth monarch of the royal house of Chakri. The prince clutched Foo Foo as the couple sang “Happy Birthday” (it’s not clear to whom), and then the princess crouched before the prince and his dog, offering up birthday cake from a silver dish. Embarrassing footage of Thailand 's king wearing a crop top while sporting 'fake' tattoos have prompted authorities to threaten action against Facebook. The foreign ministry recently warned Vajiralongkorn not to conduct affairs of state from German soil. As a result, the King must always be seated higher than everyone else, and during official ceremonies, events, and speeches, the monarch's feet are supposed to be above the heads of those around him. The house of Chakri – and those who benefit from it – do not take challenges lightly. They don’t have an official leader. On display were the extravagant gifts Thai monarchs have bestowed on occupants of the White House. Those who started the current protests in Bangkok are remarkable for their youth – some are still at school. Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn adjusts his crown at his coronation. Previously, royal investments had been held by the secretive Crown Property Bureau. The following year the bureau announced it had transferred all its holdings to Vajiralongkorn himself, removing the last element of ambiguity about whose money it was. The dynamics of these demonstrations often reflected struggles among the political and business elite, as different sides mobilised their supporters. The three-fingered salute of Katniss Everdeen and her fellow freedom-fighters had been used by protesters before in Thailand, but it has become the iconic image of the current demonstrations. 1. Western powers have long played a role in boosting the status of the Thai monarchy. The 64-year-old Crown Prince was pictured at Munich airport earlier this year wearing a small white crop-top, faded slim-fit jeans and a fake tattoo sleeve. As different as day and night, New York Post has reported that the new King of Thailand was questioned for his strange behaviours and was pictured wearing a white crop top exposing his midriff and other parts of his upper body. The King of Thailand held an odd ceremony Sunday where he named one of his top generals and longtime girlfriend as his official mistress, a … Yet the crown also acts as a real-world symbol of an institution reliant on spectacle: at 7 kilograms, it is one of the heaviest coronation crowns still in use today (the St Edward Crown, placed on the head of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, came in at a paltry 2 kilograms). His fame began with a bizarre video which began circulating on the internet in 2009 showing Vajiralongkorn sat at a table with his third wife, Princess Srirasmi, who was wearing only a g-string. The aura of a quaint, benignly ruled country that Thailand used to project to outsiders is fading. Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, had to lie on the floor as she was given a gift by the king during the marriage ceremony. A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to … Over time Bhumibol added to his personal power with ritual and prestige. BANGKOK — The new king of Thailand is into his fashion, but unfortunately the Thai government doesn’t want its citizens to know that. Even his mother once described Vajiralongkorn as a “bit of a Don Juan” and suggested he might have to change his ways or quit the royal family. Despite a vigorous protest movement in his home country, the king, 68, has often been seen on cycling trips into the German mountains. STROLLING in a German shopping centre, covered in tattoos and wearing a preposterous yellow crop top, the scruffy guy looked about as far from royalty as … Help using this website - Accessibility statement, estimated wealth of more than $US40 billion ($54 billion), Back to Bali: the expats riding out the pandemic in paradise, Bank of Japan extends support as infections surge, Wuhan residents hope WHO finds virus origins, Indonesia pledges free vaccines as Brazil slams CoronaVac. “At one point during the band’s second number, he jumped up onto the head table and began lapping from the guests’ water glasses.” When Foo Foo died in 2015, four days of mourning were held for him, complete with Buddhist prayers, before he was cremated. A portrait of Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej seen at Sala Chalermkrung Royal Theatre in … Girl aged just TEN gives birth after being raped in Colombia. The 66-year-old monarch dressed in black cycling leggings, a helmet and a tight purple top, and climbed on his bike before cycling off, The monarch has been snapped in a crop top before, notably during this shopping trip in Munich, Germany. And they have a radical new agenda: wide-ranging reform of the monarchy itself. But a long history of coups by the palace’s allies in the army (most recently in 2014) suggests otherwise. One of Bhumibol’s lasting agrarian interventions was to set up a department of royal rainmaking. For most of history, the Chakris were just another absolutist dynasty. Many Thais are finding it hard to venerate the new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn. In 2018 the bodies of two Thai campaigners against the monarchy were found in the Mekong river in Laos, close to the border with Thailand. 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