(10 Aug 2023)
RESGTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bangkok - 10 August 2023
1. Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse arrives at temple and is greeted by monks and temple officials
2. Various of Vacharaesorn walking
3. Wide of Vacharaesorn lighting candles in temple
4. Wide of monks
5. Various of Vacharaesorn praying
6. Wide of queue of monks receiving food from Vacharaesorn
7. Mid of Vacharaesorn giving out food
8. Various of Vacharaesorn releasing fish to make merit
9. Various of Vacharaesorn walking
10. Wide of Vacharaesorn bowing to statue of ancestor King Rama III
11. Mid of statue
12. Wide of Vacharaesorn getting into vehicle to leave
13. SOUNDBITE (Thai) Porntip Phadetpol, well-wisher:
“He went to give the offerings and I was close, in the fifth row. I was sitting in the same row with him. I was so happy. I can die without any regrets.”
14. Vehicle departs
STORYLINE:
The estranged son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn is continuing his first visit to the country, following a surprise return to the country after 27 years of living abroad.
On Thursday, Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse paid a visit to a popular Buddhist temple in Bangkok, followed by a large media presence, amid rising interest as why he has come back.
His return was first revealed in a video posted online Sunday showing him in the arrival area of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport being greeted by well-wishers.
It comes at a sensitive time for the Thai royal family, with the eldest daughter of the king being in a coma since December.
The 42-year-old, who works at a law firm in New York, is the second son of King Vajiralongkorn with his second wife Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, a former actress.
The then-crown prince divorced Sujarinee who was accused of adultery in public in 1996. Sujarinee and her children later moved abroad. The youngest daughter was taken back by the royal family and was given the title Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, but the four sons remain estranged and do not have any formal royal titles.
The Palace has not commented on his visit.
During Thursday’s hour-long visit Vacharaesorn prayed in the temple, and afterwards gave gifts of food to young monks.
He then released a number of fish into the river, a traditional way of making merit in Buddhist societies.
A small group of well-wishers and royal fans was also present, and one said she was delighted to see him.
“He went to give the offerings and I was close, in the fifth row. I was sitting in the same row with him. I was so happy. I can die without any regrets,” enthused 75 year old Porntip Phatedpol.
King Vajiralongkorn, 71, has married four times and has seven children, but he has not named an official heir. His fourth marriage to Queen Suthida was announced just days before his coronation in 2019. The king took the crown following the death of his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016.
In December, the Palace said that Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, 44, collapsed due to heart arrhythmia, which it later said was from a mycoplasma infection. She has been unconscious and remained on life support since, according to the Palace’s latest statement on her condition in January.
AP video shot by Jerry Harmer
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