Fears surround Thailand's heir Maha Vajiralongkorn

With the death of Thailand’s beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej, crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, a three-times divorced playboy who made his pet poodle an air chief marshal in the Thai military, is said to pose the biggest challenge for both the country’s monarchists and its ruling junta in coming weeks.

General Prayuth Chan-ocha, Prime Minister and head of the ruling junta, immediately endorsed Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, as his father’s successor.

However, Vajiralongkorn, who has asked for some time to mourn with the Thai people before his appointment, has shown little interest in the public duties that will be expected of him for decades.

Vajiralongkorn has built up a reputation for womanising, extravagance, bizarre self-indulgence and occasional cruelty, including to his own children, several of whom have been stripped of their names and titles and live in exile.

At the heart of the concern about Vajiralongkorn’s ascension to power was not just his erratic track record, but fears of his personal relationship with ousted former Prime Minister and business tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin presented the crown prince with a luxury car when he was first elected in 2001. Fears that Vajiralongkorn might find a support base among the populist politician’s voters are believed to have contributed to the coups that removed first Thaksin and then his sister Yingluck Shinawatra, also a Prime Minister, from power in 2006 and 2014.

The is reportedly loathed by many of his future subjects, including the elite circles expected to crown him and then help him rule. 

“Almost all Thais know about the exploits of the crown prince, who has been a hated figure in Thailand since the 1970s,” British journalist Andrew McGregor Marshall said.

Distaste for the prince was spelt out in a leaked US diplomatic cable from 2010, in which members of the Thai privy council openly discussed their concerns about Vajiralongkorn including his meddling in politics and “embarrassing financial transactions”.

He has shown none of his father’s charisma or public commitment to serve, however, apparently preferring the use of fear and violence intimidation to bolster his position. In recent months have brought purges of members of his own and his father’s inner circle, and his former wife’s family.

The king, who is the world’s longest-reigning monarch, spending 70 years on the throne, passed away on Thursday after a long illness, aged 88.

Thailand has begun a period of mourning after his death, that will last for one year, with people wearing dark colours, websites turned black and white, and television channels switched to royal broadcasts.

On Friday morning, declared a public holiday, people in the streets wore black, white or grey, avoiding bright colours to signify the country’s loss. In several shops, newspapers were sold out early.

Many dailies were published without colour. The Friday edition of the English-language Nation paper was completely devoted to the life of the king.