Thai palace website crashes after published King's rare images

Suprising glimpse into royal's private lives


Thailand’s palace website crashed on Monday after it released unprecedented pictures of the king’s consort in a fighter jet, wearing a crop top and dressed in combat fatigues with him and the royal poodle.

The unusually candid pictures of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s consort, 34-year-old Major-General Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, were released along with her official biography. The publication of the more than 60 photos and 46-page biography was dated last week, but did not start circulating online until Monday.

This undated handout from Thailand's Royal Office received on August 26, 2019 shows royal noble consort Sineenat Bilaskalayani, also known as Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi.

A palace official said the website was being fixed because of the volume of traffic. The palace has a policy of not commenting to media.

The king named Sineenat as Royal Noble Consort on his 67th birthday last month. It was the first such appointment in almost a century, long before the end of absolute monarchy in 1932.

The images and details provide an unusually intimate glimpse into the private lives of the powerful, ultra-wealthy and inscrutable monarchy, which is protected by a royal insult law that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison per count.

Born in the northern province of Nan, she graduated from the Royal Thai Army Nursing College, trained as a pilot in Thailand and abroad, and served in the king’s royal bodyguard unit, reaching the rank of major-general in May.

Some of the pictures are in the usual royal tradition, with Sineenat wearing Thai dress and sitting at the king’s feet.

This undated handout from Thailand's Royal Office received on August 26, 2019 shows Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn posing with royal noble consort Sineenat Bilaskalayani, also known as Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi. Handout/Thailand’s Royal Office