Thailand’s king has stripped his royal mistress of her titles and military ranks for being “disloyal” and trying to undermine the queen.
Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, 34, had breached a code of conduct for courtiers and was disloyal to the king, a palace statement said.
The eccentric King Maha Vajiralongkon, known as Rama X,made his former bodyguard the royal noble consortat the end of July.
Her elevation made her the first person to be named as a royal noble consort in almost a century.
The 67 – year-old rulermarried his fourth wife, Queen Suthida, two months before making his mistress an official concubine during a televised service, with his wife sitting next to him.
But on Monday the palace released a two-page statement branding Sineenat, known as Koi, “ungrateful” and behaving “in ways unbecoming of her title”.
“She is also not content with the title bestowed upon her, doing everything to rise to the level of the queen, “it added.
Sineenat had opposed Suthida’s appointment and wanted to be named queen herself, the statement said.
It called her “ambitious” in trying to obtain royal titles and “self-promoting” in her royal activities.
“She lacks the understanding of the good traditions of the royal court. She displays disobedience against the king and the queen,” the palace said.
Thailand enforces lese majeste – a law which makes it illegal to defame, insult or threaten the monarchy, with punishment of three to 15 years in prison.
It is not known if Sineenat’s behavior will be covered by the law, however she has been stripped of her four medals she received during her consort ceremony, including the “most noble order of the crown of Thailand”.
The former army nurse also is no longer a major general in the Thai army where she was the king’s personal bodyguard before becoming his consort.
King Rama X’s marriage to Queen Suthida, known as Nui, was a surprise as although they had been linked romantically for years the palace had never acknowledged their relationship before announcing they were getting married in May.
A former Thai Airways flight attendant, the queen was also in his bodyguard unit, where she was a deputy commander and a full general in the Royal Thai Army.
The king became a monarch after his highly respected father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in 2016 after 70 years on the throne.
However, he was only officially crowned in May after requesting time to mourn before taking the throne.
Months before his coronation he was pictured at Munich airport wearing a crop top and fake tattoo sleeves while Queen Suthida also wore a belly top and carried a poodle.
The king, who was educated in the UK and Australia, has long been the focus of gossip in Thailand and abroad, although media in the country will not publish the stories due to lese majeste.
(In) a home video was released by WikiLeaks showing the then-crown prince next to his third wife who was only wearing a thong as she pretended to eat from a dog bowl as they celebrated the prince’s poodle’s birthday with servants.
Fufu the dog held the rank of Air Chief Marshal in the Royal Thai Air Force, with the poodle appearing at official functions dressed in a dinner jacket.
Branded a womaniser by his own mother, Queen Sirikit, the king has been married four times and has 10 children, although only s even are officially recognized by him.
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