Talk:Maha Vajiralongkorn

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[edit] Two common law wives?

Does the recent edit to this page mean that Maha Vajiralongkorn now has two common law wives? This would seem to be stretching the royal prerogative a bit far, since Thailand banned polygamy precisely to stop the royal family spawning enormous families and complicating the succession. Could the recent editor clarify whether Maha Vajiralongkorn has divorced the first wife before acquiring the second one? Adam 11:30, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing...until we figure it out, it might be better to remove it to keep from misinforming the reader in the meantime. Everyking 12:22, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It has now been made public that the prince married his current (i.e. third) wife, Mhom Sriras (Proper transliteration might be "Sri Rasmi"?) under Royal blessing on Feb 10, 2001. She is now pregnant (likely to be a son) and the news has recently been publicised. As to the circumstance about his first wife, this is not clear. I do not think the monogamous law was enacted by King Rama VI -- a British graduate himself -- with view to ban the royals, it was probably simply to put Thai law in line with western values. The Succession Law, enacted also by Rama VI, established who would be in line for succession in case a king has more than one wife. Jakris 13:45, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Who will be the heir?

Thanks to Jakris for clarifying the situation. Will Maha Vajiralongkorn's new son be the heir to the throne after him? Adam 23:50, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Interesting question. The short answer is I don't know. He (the child) will certainly have some claim to the throne, but whether his claim will be strongest remains to be seen. The current rule stated that anybody whom the king name will be the first in line for succession, but as far as I know, female is still barred from the throne. King Bhumibol named Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn as his successor, so if anything (you know what) happens, the Prince will certainly inherit the throne. It will then be up to him to name his successor, which can technically be anybody who is not specifically prohibited by the Succession Law. Until he names somebody, the Law stated that the first in line for succession would be the first born son to his 'queen'. So the question is really who is going to be his queen? Although it looks like he might have practically separated from his first wife, I think there might be some PR pressure on him to annoites her as his queen, and probably Mhom Sriras (the third wife) as his royal consort. Now, because the queen does not have a son, we need the next sections of the Law, which effectively stated that the first born son of the wife of the next rank (e.g. royal consort) would then be the heir. In this scenario, this child will be his heir. However, another factor to consider is the status of his second wife, as she also have sons. If the prince also makes her his wife of at least equal rank to Mhom Sriras, then the son from this wife would probably have stronger claim. However, I think this scenario is probably unlikely as his second marriage is more dubious than his other marriages. Having said all that, the power to amend the Succession Law remains with the king (this is endorsed by every Thai constitutions), so if he decides to remove the female prohibition, then the situation would also change as well. Jakris 02:19, 4 Mar 2005 UTC
    • According to the current Thai Constitution, if the King names his successor (which he MUST follow the Palace Law on Succession B.E. 2647 which FORBIDS a princess to inherit the throne) then the named prince will inherit the throne. However, if the King does not name his successor, the privy council will submit the name of the successor to the National Assembly and ask for approval. In the latter case the privy council may submit a name of a princess. So under the current Constitution, it is clearly state that Thailand may have a princess to inherit the throne (which bypass the Succession Law) only if the King does not name his successor. The Crown prince and HRH Princess Soamsavali (his first wife) are divorced. However, their daughter, HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha, remains the highest rank/title among his other children which are only styled HSH (lower rank than HRH), and also highest among other grandchildren of the current King. She has worked on royal duty for quite some time, so it is possible that the princess will inherit the throne after his father (the current Crown Prince). The four sons from his second wife are illegitimate and are not well-accepted by public, so they are unlikely to be legible to inherit the throne. The four sons and their mother remains unheard in Thai media for quite a long time. The discussion about them are strictly prohibited in Thailand.

If the succession is determined by a Palace law, the king is prohibited to name a princess as the successor precisely as long as the selfsame king does not alter that prohibition in the said palace law. It is fully possible that the king, if wants to name a female as the successor, first amends the Succession Law, quashing the prohibition against females, and then, according to the amended law, names the princess as the successor. Or how? 217.140.193.123 19:37, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article title

I thought Maha meant "great", so is this a name or a title? Is either of his names a surname? Does the Royal Family have a surname? Adam 08:46, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

  • The given name is "Maha Vajiralongkorn" and "Mahidol" is his surname.
  • The given name is "Vajiralongkorn" -- "Maha" is a prefix added later to his full name + title. His family name is "Mahidol" -- although the members of royal family who hold title Her/His Royal Highness (HRH) are not required to use the surname by the current Thai law.

So should not this article be called Vajiralongkorn Mahidol? Adam 23:51, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

Certainly not "Vajiralongkorn Mahidol", Adam. Cf. e.g. Charles, Prince of Wales and Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, not "Charles Mountbatten-Windsor" or "Victoria Bernadotte". The Prince does in fact use the name you suggested ("Vajiralongkorn Mahidol") on his uniform, but I don't think that usage will follow Wikipedia's article naming convention. I personally prefer "Vajiralongkorn" alone, or perhaps with ", Crown Prince of Thailand". However, I have a feeling that most non-Thais might know him under the name of "Maha Vajiralongkorn" (I may be wrong), in which case we should leave the title as is. --Jakris 17:50, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

What about Vajiralongkorn, Crown Prince of Thailand? Adam 23:16, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. Perhaps with redirection from "Maha Vajiralongkorn" as well if we really decide to move? --Jakris 23:30, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
This would be fine; it is in line with what is done for other princes on Wikipedia. -- Emsworth 17:16, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Now New Son Of His Royal Highness Crownprince Maha Vajiralongkorn to baptize by HM.The King of thailand. The New Prince name His Royal Highness Teepangkornrasameechod.

Could one of the anonymous people editing this article clarify what the name of Vajiralongkorn's new son is? It is Teepangkornrasameechod? Adam 02:54, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I am one of the anonymous persons who are editing this page. Since the name of the Crown Prince's son has not been revealed to the public, I see only two solutions : The other anonymous person is related to the Thai Royal household, and knows things we still don't know...Or it is an error.


A google for Teepangkornrasameechod gets no hits. This name can't go in the article until it is confirmed from some other source. Another question: Why has the name of this child not been announced? Is it a Thai custom? Or just a royal thing? Adam 00:36, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The name will be disclosed today (17 June) during the buddhist equivalent of the christian christening ceremony. It is assumed that the name wasn't disclosed earlier because the sitution of the child's mother needed to be clarified. Since she was, until 15 June, a commoner, her child would not have been able to be elevated to the rank of HRH. It seems that the negociations took some time, and finally HM the King has bestroyed the title of HRH upon Princess Srirasmi, opening the way to the disclosure of the name of the princesse's child with the title of HRH, as Royal Grandchild.

Thanks for that clarification. Adam 07:51, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

So it is, the anonymous person from yesterday was right for the Prince's name...Beeing so right is perhaps the reason why that person stays anonymous...

So the child's name is Teepangkornrasameechod? Adam 04:47, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it is phonetically correct, but due to the official transcription rules from thai to western scripts, the right spelling is the one written in the article....That country is so complicated...:-)


Name of HSH Princess Siriwanwari Mahidol after elavationed is HRH Princess Siriwannawari Nariratana.--Pudtipong Nawasornyuttana 06:25, 26 July 2005 (UTC)


Please consult Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (Thailand-related articles)#Cast votes


[edit] Move?

Why not just move this page to Vajiralongkorn? The inclusion of the ", Crown Prince of Suchandsuchland" is, after all, for the purpose of disambiguating between royals in countries where they often share the same names. W:NC explicitly excludes East Asian countries. I don't see any reason not to use the shorter title. - Nat Krause 10:25, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Nat is correct. I agree. 217.140.193.123 19:41, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

I second that. This is the only article among living members of the Thai royal family where english royal title is noted in the article name. Most others just use given name (e.g., Bhumibol Adulyadej). Patiwat 01:20, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I propose to move this article back to Maha Vajiralongkorn; note that Maha is part of the given name, as the princess's article is at Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, not Sirindhorn. If unobjected, this should be done without need for a requested move. --Paul C 20:03, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

I also suggest to move the title of "HRH Crown Princess" from his royal consort in the right panel under "Thai Royal Family". Her marriage to the Crown Prince doesn't mean that she should also be entitled to "Crown Princess". Crown Princess should only be applied to heiress apparent in countries where male and female are equal in succession line. Therefore, her title should be corrected to only "HRH Princess Srirasmi, the Royal Consort to HRH Crown Prince of Thailand", which also corresponds to her title in Thai as well.

[edit] Physical appearance

Vajiralongkorn has a kind of strange appearance. For one, he has rather pale skin. Is this due to cosmetics or some kind of condition? But besides that his facial features seem kind of "strange" for a Thai person. I just can't quite put my finger on it.

The ugly, cruel, and baseless rumor that everyone in Thailand has heard is that he has HIV.

I, for one, believe that MOST of the rumors are not true. One of the most widely believed says that he shot at Sirindhorn some 25+ years ago. This HIV rumor is yet another attempt to make him seem as bad as possible. 206.63.251.39 05:57, 24 April 2007 (UTC)Cliff Sloane

Not all people with HIV are ugly or cruel. Only ignorance would support this rumour. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.176.69.125 (talk) 03:26, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Children's titles

"Sons born by Yuvadhida are unlikely to be regarded legitimate to inherit the throne and reportedly have been stripped of their royal title by their father. They now live in the United States." By what authority does he strip people of titles? Surely this is the prerogative of the King? Adam 03:49, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POV?

I know I'm stepping on this ice here, but some of the statements in the article on the Crown Prince aren't really neutral point of view or backed up. "Although the subject is never publicly discussed in Thailand, most observers believe that Vajiralongkorn shares none of the enormous popularity of his parents among the Thai public. This is partly because ... of his immoral private life, lack of intelligence, his repeated abuse and mistreatment of subordinates and partly because he is seen as a cold and remote personality."

immoral private life. I have no idea how to edit this, except that the word "immoral" shouldn't be used.

lack of intelligence This doesn't belong here either. Either state it in a verifiable way (e.g., with an anecdote or a reference), or it should be deleted.

his repeated abuse and mistreatment of subordinates This is a rather serious statement. Rumors of this abound in Thailand, but due to the nature of Thai law, none of it is verifiable.

Would somebody (either anonymous, or a non-Thai who has no intention of ever visiting Thailand) please make these edits? I'm Thai, and in Thailand, and am afraid of being hit by lese-majesty. Anonymous 203.147.0.48

[edit] Quote from The Economist

Was the quote from the 2002 Economist ("Vajiralongkorn is held in much less esteem than the King. Bangkok gossips like to swap tales of his lurid personal life. One of his sisters, another possible heir to the throne, is more popular, but Thailand has never been ruled by a woman.") from the same issue that was censored in Thailand? I've always wondered exactly how they crossed the unmentionable line, but because the issue was banned I never figured it out.

[edit] Royal succession

Some recent debate in the King Bhumibol article showed that there is quite a bit of confusion about the rules behind the royal succession. It is thus suggested that the following note be added to this article: "Prince Vajiralongkorn was given the title "Somdej Phra Boroma Orasadhiraj Chao Fah Maha Vajiralongkorn Sayam Makutrajakuman" on 28th December 1972, making him the Crown Prince and Heir Apparent to the throne. In 1977, Princess Sirindhorn was given an equivalent title, "Sayam Makutrajakumari". The constitution was later ammended to allow for a "daughter of the king" to succeed to the throne, but only in the absence of a male heir apparent. Although this effectively signalled Princess Sirindhorn as unofficially second in line to the throne., it did not give her equal status in terms of royal succession to the Prince." Patiwat 10:14, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Comment

An anonymous comment I removed from the article, in case anyone wants to follow it up: (But the time of 1978 to become a Buddhist monk is contradictory since he was married in 1977, as stated below.) HenryFlower 06:52, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Death

I have heard a rumor from a source that I trust (on July 26, 2007) that the Crown Prince has died. Since this is such a taboo subject in Thailand, if true, has so far been kept under wraps. It's a well known fact that Vajiralongkorn has been seeking treatment for AIDS abroad. If this is the case, his 4 year-old son is the Heir to the throne. Again, this is just a rumor.

I have also heard from Thailand that the Prince died last week whilst he was in Germany seeing treatment for HIV/AIDs. However it seems that he flew back to Thailand today (27th July). http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=601&Itemid=31 He doesn't look very well in those photos though.

Rumour does not belong on Wikipedia. Although interesting I don't think it's appropriate or consistant with Wikipedias policies to post rumours like this on this page. There are plenty of sites available for you to post things like this. Wikipedia isn't one of them unless you can provide a reliable source for your information. For interest, I live in Thailand and I heard the same rumour but the country was changed to Sweden. This kind of unsourced information has no place in Wikipedia. Also, please don't give the Thai government an excuse to block Wikipedia by posting unsourced rumours like this. We've already lost Youtube. Post sourced material if you can. Sean.hoyland 20:27, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Ok, someone include the rumor in the article. Uh, by not including it, you already DISPEL it. There's no need to include this rumor. I have also never heard of the AIDS thing. It's not a well known fact, at all, as unpopular as he is, I doubt it is true.Suredeath 08:28, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

  • I've never included a rumor (e.g., "It became the talk of the town that ... is died...") and I don't think that rumors belong on Wikipedia. But when credible a source of news and analysis dispels the rumor, analyzes how the rumor affected a person's popularity, and then discusses how significantly the rumor could affect that person's political future, I do think this is worthy of mention in the biographical article. Patiwat 17:10, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
Let see how about rumor in George W. Bush article. Did you find any? Many of those are on the news. --Manop - TH 05:56, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

There's no sense in posting death rumors. If he dies you'll find out soon enough. Jumping the gun and being wrong only makes you an unreliable source. Wikipedia is not a news media, it is an encyclopedia, so it's ok if you wait until confirmed and reliable information is released to report it. There's no reward for beating anyone to the story. It is also inappropriate for you to assume that his 4 year old son is the heir apparent as noone has actually been officially named as his heir. He happens to have 4 other sons and 2 daughters, with the son you mention being younger than all of these, so it is not known who his heir will be until he announces it.

[edit] Why were images of his family deleted?

Why were images of the Crown Prince's family deleted? No real criteria was ever given. I think they are useful - his children are all potential heirs to the throne. Patiwat 17:11, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Disputed images. Copyright unclear. Suredeath 21:03, 29 July 2007 (UTC)