Watch a glimpse of the wedding ceremony in the video below.
Video credit: South China Morning Post
News of King Maha Vajiralongkorn marrying his consort Suthida Tidjai and making her queen just before his coronation shocked Thais around the country. Thai media is heavily censored so no one knew anything about her until then.
Suthida first worked as an air stewardess for Thai Airways and it is thought that is where she first caught the future king’s eye as he occasionally flew for the airline as a pilot.
She was first assigned as a “bodyguard” in his personal protection unit with the title General in the army. Incidentally, that put her on the same level as the king’s pet poodle FuFu, who carries the rank of Air Chief Marshal in the air force.
During the wedding, Suthida had to lie on the floor at the King’s feet as part of the tradition and became his fourth wife. Vajiralongkorn had divorced former waitress Srirasmi Suwadee in 2014.
Nothing much is publicly known about Thailand’s new queen except that she was born in 1978 and had attended Assumption University. After getting her communication arts degree in 2000, she started working for Thai Airways soon after.
As a licensed pilot, then Prince Vajiralongkorn occasionally flew the carrier’s Airbus and Boeing jets. It was there that he picked out several stewardesses as mistresses even if he was still married to Suwadee.
It appears that Suthida became his “main mistress” and spent a lot of time with him in Bavaria even as Suwadee and her son Adityadornkitigun remained in Bangkok.
Suthida joined the Thai military in 2010 as a Second Lieutenant and only six months later was promoted to First Lieutenant.
She was first officially recognized for her service to Prince Vajiralongkorn in 2012, having been awarded the Order of the White Elephant due to her “honesty, loyalty and responsibility … dedication and sacrifice.”
There aren’t many photographs of Suthida with Vajiralongkorn because the Thai press is heavily censored. Thus not many knew the pair had any kind of relationship until the wedding happened.
After King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death in October 2016, Suthida became Commander of the Special Operations Unit of the King’s Guard in December of that same year. She was given the title of General after only six years in the armed forces.
King Vajiralongkorn suddenly announced his marriage to Suthida on May 1, 2019 where she became Queen Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Ayudhya.
The Royal Gazette announced that she had “legally married” the King following royal traditions.
Vajiralongkorn has been married three times and with most of his time spent in Germany. He has seven children and loves fast jets. He also has a reputation for quickly blowing his top. But barely any notice has been paid to his colorful private life because of harsh lese-majeste laws. All media in Thailand are also expected to self-censor.
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