Vajiralongkorn
King of Thailand since 2016
Vajiralongkorn (born 28 July 1952), also known by his regnal name Rama X, is King of Thailand, reigning since 2016. He is the tenth monarch of the Chakri dynasty, succeeding his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX).
The only son of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, Vajiralongkorn was educated in Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Australia, graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon. He served as an officer in the Royal Thai Army, training with British, Australian, and United States armed forces, and qualified as a military fast-jet and commercial airline pilot. He saw active combat against the Communist Party of Thailand during the 1970s. Designated crown prince in 1972, he assumed the throne following his father's death on 13 October 2016, requesting a brief delay before his formal proclamation on 1 December 2016. His coronation took place from 4 to 6 May 2019.
Vajiralongkorn's reign has seen a marked centralisation of royal power and personal wealth. Shortly after ascending the throne, he requested changes to the draft 2017 Constitution of Thailand regarding royal prerogatives, took direct ownership of the vast assets managed by the Crown Property Bureau, and brought key military and security units under direct royal command. His political interventions, extensive residence in Germany during his early reign, and lifestyle generated significant domestic and international media attention.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Vajiralongkorn” as king of Thailand since 2016. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as king of Thailand since 2016. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q548733. VIAF identifies the subject as 70393608. The Library of Congress control number is n85373045. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 2016, 1972 and 2019.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Vajiralongkorn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.