Thai Royal Consort Gains Back King's Favour After She Was Purged For 'Disloyalty' To Queen
35-year-old Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi was stripped of her rank and titles last year.
By Sadho Ram — 03 Sep 2020, 01:00 PM
On Wednesday, 2 September, Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn reinstated his royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi to the position
An announcement in the Royal Thai Government Gazette indicated that Sineenat's position has not only been reinstated but that her titles had never been removed in the first place.
According to the Royal Gazette announcement, dated 29 August, the restoration was made official with a royal edict stating that Sineenat had "never been a tarnished person".
"As Miss Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi has never been a tarnished person, His Majesty has given her the title of the royal consort, military ranks, and royal decorations continuously. It will be regarded that she was never stripped of the royal consort title, military ranks, and royal decorations previously," it said.
The first royal consort for almost a century, Sineenat was named as the King's companion in July 2019, before being stripped of her rank in October for trying to elevate herself to "the same state as the queen"
Last year, the palace had accused her of "misbehaviour and disloyalty against the monarch".
According to an announcement in the Royal Gazette in October last year, she had been "ambitious" and tried to "elevate herself to the same state as the queen" Suthida, the king's fourth wife.
"His Majesty has monitored her behaviour since and found she was lacking gratitude or actions fit for her position. She was not satisfied with the position granted and has acted in every way to match herself with Her Majesty the Queen," it said, adding that the decision was made to "reduce tension and potential trouble" in the royal household, according to a report in South China Morning Post.
The announcement said that Sineenat's "behaviours were considered disrespectful" as they showed "disobedience against the king and the queen" and abusing her power to give orders on the king's behalf.
Sineenat's removal last year echoed the cases of two of the Thai king's former wives, Sujarinee Vivacharawongse in 1996, who was a consort prior to being married, and Srirasmi Suwadee 2014, who was the third consort prior to being stripped of all her titles and banished from the royal court.
According to BBC, while Thai kings throughout the centuries took multiple wives - or consorts, until 2019, the last time a Thai king had taken an official consort was in the 1920s.
