King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand has fired six officials over their "extremely evil" conduct, a couple of days after stripping his royal consort of titles.
The king of Thailand dismissed the officials, which include a woman, a senior police official and two royal guards. These officials were allegedly "exploiting their official positions for their own or other people's gain".
One of the six officials dismissed is police lieutenant general Sakolket Chantra of the Royal Household Bureau. The announcements in the Royal Gazette stated: "They have severely breached disciplinary conduct for their evil actions by exploiting their official positions for their own or other people's gain."
"They also didn't comply with royal regulations, which has brought severe damage to the royal affairs," the announcements added.
The dismissals were made several days after the King decided to strip his royal consort of her rank and titles for “misbehavior and disloyalty against the monarch”. According to the king's official announcement, his royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi has been stripped of all royal titles, decorations, status in the royal guard and her military ranks because she had been “ambitious” and tried to “elevate herself to the same state as the queen”.
Sineenat was appointed as royal consort in July, just two months after King Vajiralongkorn married his fourth wife, Queen Suthida. This was the first time a person was awarded the title of Royal Noble Consort in Thailand in nearly a century. Sineenat was a major-general and is a trained pilot, nurse and bodyguard.
The royal consort has been accused of “resistance against the king and the queen” and of abusing her power to give orders on the king’s behalf. The statement also indicated that the king learned that “she neither was grateful to the title bestowed upon her, nor did she behave appropriately according to her status”.
