A Thai hashtag translating to “Why do we need a king?” accrued over 1.2 million tweets. One of the main reason, Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been staying oversea most of the time, has a reputation as a womanizer and his lavish expenditure.
On Sep 21, Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a journalist who has been reporting on the Thai royal family for years posted a document in Twitter with the details the cost of King’s spending in Berlin.
EXCLUSIVE—This document gives more insight into the cost to taxpayers of the many years Vajiralongkorn has chosen to live mainly in Germany. 1/8 pic.twitter.com/7umXSkRQS1
— Andrew MacGregor Marshall (@zenjournalist) September 21, 2020
He further explained, that the document is just an estimate cost of the Thai embassy in Berlin when Vajiralongkorn was just a crown prince before being crowned as king. The cost of €938,485 (RM4.5 million) was incurred from various expenses for 5 months dated 1st May to 30th September 2016.
The shocking cost haven’t even cover all the other expenses of Vajiralongkorn’s stay in Germany, for himself, his harem of 20 women and his servants. It also does not cover all the other hotel rooms for him and his servants at the Hilton Hotel in Munich Airport and the Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl.
It also doesn’t cover the cost of his private fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft and helicopters. It is just a tip of a iceberg on the King’s expenditure.
According to China Press, The King has spent most of his time in Germany since 2007. For about a decade he lived at the Hilton, formerly the Kempinski, where he rented the entire top floor of one of the two wings of the hotel. After 2016 he began living mostly at Hotel Sonnenbichl instead.
By now, the total cost must be billions of dollars.
While The King’s fourth wife, Queen Suthida is also said to spend most of her time in a luxury hotel in Switzerland. But, It is unclear if she is still living there.
Last month, after the King reinstated his royal consort, Sineenat. He was caught under the lens of paparazzi wearing a crop top and a pair of low rise jeans picking her up in the airport in German. Somehow, his fashion sense is far cry from the public image on people of a King.
However, criticism of members of the Thai royal household, even their pets, is strictly prohibited. There are large fines and prison sentences of up to 35 years that can be imposed.