It was a crowning achievement for a former flight attendant for Thai Airways.
Three days before his official coronation, Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn married Suthida Tidjai — the deputy head of his personal security detail and a former flight attendant — and gave her the title of queen, according to Reuters.
The announcement of the surprise nuptials Wednesday was carried in the Royal Gazette — and the wedding footage was later shown on the nightly Royal News segment aired on all Thai TV channels.
Vajiralongkorn, 66, also known as King Rama X, became constitutional monarch after his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in October 2016 after 70 years on the throne.
On Saturday, he will be officially crowned in Buddhist and Brahmin ceremonies, which are expected to cost upward of $30 million, followed by a procession through Bangkok the following day.
In 2014, he appointed Tidjai as a deputy commander of his bodyguard unit and then promoted her to a full general in the Royal Thai Army in December 2016.
Among the dignitaries at the royal wedding were Prayuth Chan-ocha, leader of the military junta that has run the country since a 2014 army coup, as well as other royal family members and palace advisers.
The thrice-divorced Vajiralongkorn, who has seven children, had been romantically linked to Tidjai by royal observers and foreign media, but the palace had previously never acknowledged a relationship between the two.
The couple is known to spend most of their time living between Thailand and Germany, where Vajiralongkorn owns a $12 million mansion in Munich, according to the Guardian.
Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932 but the royal family still holds immense loyalty, power and wealth.
