Vaj married his first wife in 1977, a cousin, Princess Soamsavali Kitiyakara, with whom he has a daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, born in 1978. During his first marriage, the Crown Prince had an affair with Yuvadhida Polpraserth, and they had four sons and a daughter while he was still married to his first wife. They finally married in 1994 but divorced just two years later. The crown prince accused Yuvadhida Polpraserth of adultery, and she and their children first moved to England in 1996. She and their four sons are reportedly still banished from Thailand. Their daughter was reportedl kidnapped by the Crown Prince himself, taken back to Thailand and elevated to the rank of Princess, while their sons were stripped of all their titles.
In 2001, the Crown Prince married yet again, to former waitress Srirasmi Suwadee but that marriage only became public after she gave birth to a son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, in 2005. They appear together in a leaked video from 2007, where Srirasmi appears in only g-string at a private party for the Crown Prince’s dog Foo Foo, who was given a military rank and was often dressed in formal attire. Princess Srirasmi, sang happy birthday to the dog topless, and also got on her knees and ate from a dog bowl in the same video. When the dog died in 2015, he was given a four-day memorial.
By that time, the Crown Prince had also gotten rid of his third wife-- stripping her of her royal titles, and officially divorcing here. Seven of her relatives were accused of corruption, and her mother and father were sentenced to two and half years in prison. Srirasmi received a $6 million settlement and was exiled. Her son remains the King’s only legitimate son.
The crown prince admitted to an interviewer he was unable to tie his own shoe laces at age 12 because courtiers had always done it for him.
The crown prince has spent much of his adult life away from the public eye-- for many years living overseas in Germany, where he gained a reputation as a cruel and corrupt womanizer. Wikileaks has reported "Vaj the Raj" may have HIV, Hepatitis C or another blood-related illness, perhaps due to a history of debauchery while living in Germany.
The Thai government has spent 1 billion baht ($31.35 million) on the King's coronation ceremonies, and it has been reported that a crowd of around 200,000 people showed up to view the parade. The government provided free buses for people living outside Bangkok to come to witness the spectacle, and bus and train travel to the site was free in the capital. Bangkok is home to over 14 million Thai citizens.
Thai people have been encouraged for the past month by the military government to wear yellow to signify devotion to the monarchy but only in the last few days have people in Bangkok joined in on a large scale. When the late King Bhumibol died, Bangkok's streets and public transport were a sea of black for months on end.
The king's coronation comes amid the uncertainty of an unresolved election battle between the current military junta chief and a 'democratic front' trying to push the army out of politics.
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