Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has dismissed six palace officials for “extremely evil” conduct, a palace announcement said on Wednesday, in a shake-up that came days after the sacking of the king’s royal consort.
The six included a woman, a senior police official and two royal guards, all of whom worked in the palace.
Two separate announcements published in the official royal gazette accused the six of severe disciplinary misconduct that caused harm to the royal service.
It said that they had been fired and stripped of all their official ranks.
“The king has ordered their dismissal from royal service ... because of their severe disciplinary misconduct and deeds that are considered extremely evil,” one of the announcements said.
Reporters were unable to reach the six officials for comment.
Former royal consort Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi was on Monday stripped of her titles in an extraordinary announcement, just months after the king made her his royal noble consort — the first such appointment in almost a century.
A palace statement on Monday accused her of being “disloyal” and conducting a rivalry with Thai Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana, who married King Vajiralongkorn in May just days before his elaborate coronation.
Sineenat’s whereabouts since her dismissal are not known.
The Wednesday statements did not directly link the six fired officials to Sineenat’s dismissal.
Since taking the throne following the death of his revered father, Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in 2016, Vajiralongkorn has proved to be an assertive constitutional monarch, taking more direct control of royal affairs and the crown’s vast wealth, and transferring two military units from the Royal Thai Army to his personal control.
Public criticism of the king or the royal family is illegal under Thailand’s strict lese majeste laws, with insults to the monarchy punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
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