Royal cull: Furious Thai king strips Royal Consort of all titles for 'disloyalty'
THAILAND's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has stripped his Royal Consort of her title and medals for being "disloyal" to the Crown and disrespecting the royal rank.
Thai King Vajiralongkorn has coronation ceremony in 2019
The Thai King's extraordinary move has been announced today by the country's Royal Gazette. Sineenat Bilaskalayani was removed of her title of Royal Consort and all her ranking and medals after being accused of inappropriate behaviour and a failure to be loyal to the monarch.
In the statement, the 34-year-old was branded "ambitious" and accused of attempting "to elevate herself to the status of the Queen".
The statement suggests Ms Bilaskalayani has tried to maintain a role of prominence in the eye of the Thai monarch even after he married Queen Suthida, his fourth wife, on May 1.
With her actions, "acted against the appointment of the Queen for her own ambitions", wishing the King to make her his Queen instead, the Gazette reads.
The statement also said the former Royal Consort has given in the past months commands related to the King and Queen's royal duties.
Ms Bilaskalayani has been the first woman to receive the title of Royal Consort in almost a century, and was given this honour in July, two months after the Thai King married for the fourth time.
According to the Royal Gazette, the King bestowed this title upon the 34-year-old in a bid to "reduce pressure and problems" - but Ms Bilaskalayani carried on with her behaviour, branded "disloyal".
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Queen Suthida, a 41-year-old former flight attendant, has been a long-term partner of King Vajiralongkorn, and the pair have been seen together in public on many occasions during the past years.
The former Royal Consort was a major-general, is a trained pilot, nurse and bodyguard.
In August, official photos were released of her in combat fatigues and piloting a jet.
The pictures were followed shortly after by an announcement that the monarch had "ordered the creation of a royal biography" for her.
King Vajiralongkorn was crowned in May in an elaborate three-day ceremony.
The ceremony gave the Thai King divine authority.
King Vajiralongkorn succeeded his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in hospital in 2016 aged 88.
As he became King in 1946, the late monarch reigned for 70 years.
His death made Queen Elizabeth II the world's longest-living monarch.