Srirasmi Suwadee (; ; born 9 December 1971), formerly Princess Srirasmi, Royal Consort to the Crown Prince of Thailand, is a former member of the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. She was the third

consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

of then-

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

Maha Vajiralongkorn (now Rama X) from February 2001 to December 2014.

Early life

Srirasmi Suwadee was born in

Samut Songkhram Province Samut Songkhram (, ) is one of the central Provinces of Thailand, provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from the south clockwise) Phetchaburi province, Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi province, Ratchaburi and Samut Sakhon pr ...

to a family of modest means. She was the third of four children born to Apiruj and Wanthanee Suwadee, and is of Mon-Thai descent from her mother's side. She attended Bangkok Business College and in 1993, at age 22, entered the service of Vajiralongkorn as a "

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

". Srirasmi enrolled in Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in 1997 and graduated in 2002 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in management science. Vajiralongkorn personally bestowed her with her diploma. In 2007, she received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in Family and Child Development from

Kasetsart University Kasetsart University (; ; commonly Kaset or KU) is a public university, public research university in Bangkok, Thailand. It is the largest university in Thailand. It was Thailand's first agriculture, agricultural university and Thailand's third ...

Marriage and family

Srirasmi married the Crown Prince of Thailand on 10 February 2001 in a private ceremony at the prince's Nonthaburi Palace. The public was informed of the event some time afterwards. The prince, who had married twice before and has children with his previous wives, stated it was his intention to settle down: "I am now 50 years old and think I should have a complete family." After the wedding, Srirasmi was styled Mom Srirasmi Mahidol na Ayudhya (Mahidol is the surname of King

Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej (5 December 192713 October 2016), titled Rama IX, was King of Thailand from 1946 until Death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej, his death in 2016. His reign of 70 years and 126 days is the longest of any List of Thai mo ...

and King

Ananda Mahidol Ananda Mahidol (20 September 19259 June 1946) was the eighth Monarchy of Thailand, king of Siam (later Thailand) from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama VIII. At the time he was recognised as king by the National Assembly of Thailand, National ...

, and the na Ayudhya designation signifies non-titled descendants of the

Chakri dynasty The Chakri dynasty is the current reigning dynasty of the Thailand, Kingdom of Thailand. The head of the house is the Monarchy of Thailand, king, who is head of state. The family has ruled Thailand since the founding of the Rattanakosin era and ...

and their spouses). On 14 February 2005, it was announced that Srirasmi was pregnant. On 29 April 2005, a son named Dipangkorn Rasmijoti was born via

caesarean Caesarean section, also known as C-section, cesarean, or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen. It is often performed because vaginal delivery would ...

section at Siriraj Hospital. Because of the birth, she was granted by King Bhumibol Adulyadej the title "Princess of Thailand" and styled "Her Royal Highness" as the royal consort of Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. A royal ceremony, called "Phra Ratchaphithi Somphot Duean Lae Khuen Phra U," to celebrate the first month of the baby was held on 17 June 2005 at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok. Srirasmi initiated and launched the "Sai Yai Rak Chak Mae Su Luk" (Love and care from mother to children) campaign which promoted

breast feeding Breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the process where breast milk is fed to a child. Infants may suck the milk directly from the breast, or milk may be extracted with a pump and then fed to the infant. The World Health Organization (WH ...

. The campaign features images of her son. Srirasmi came to wider public attention in 2009, when she appeared in a leaked video feeding a birthday cake to her husband's dog

Fufu Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou ) is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African c ...

while only wearing a G-string.

Divorce and loss of title

A letter asking for Srirasmi's family to be stripped of their royal name was sent to the

interior ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

in November 2014. The letter was sent by her husband, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, after allegations of corruption against seven of her relatives. On 11 December 2014, the ''

Royal Thai Government Gazette The ''Royal Gazette'' (; ) is the government gazette, official journal of Thailand (formerly Siam). The gazette was first published in 1858 at the behest of King Mongkut (Rama IV) as a channel for his government to communicate its information to ...

'' announced that Srirasmi relinquished her royal title, presumably due to the corruption affairs that involved her family. Srirasmi was granted a payment of 200 million

baht The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...

(US$6 million) by Maha Vajiralongkorn in exchange for her relinquishment. The money was paid out of the

Crown Property Bureau The Crown Property Bureau (CPB) (; ) is legally the administrative agency responsible for managing the property of the King of Thailand. The king had appointed six members of the bureau's governing board, with the seventh the sitting Minister of ...

, as confirmed by the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

. After Srirasmi's divorce, her parents, father Apiruj Suwadee, 72, and mother Wanthanee, 66, were arrested for

lèse-majesté ''Lèse-majesté'' or ''lese-majesty'' ( , ) is an offence or defamation against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or of the state itself. The English name for this crime is a mod ...

. The two later admitted to misusing their royal connection 12 years prior, which led to a former neighbor being jailed on bogus fraud charges. Both were sentenced to five years in prison, reduced to two and a half years after pleading guilty to defaming the monarchy. One week later, her brothers Maj. Natthapol Suwadee, Narong Suwadee and Sitthisak Suwadee were jailed for five-and-a-half years. She chose to embrace a monastic life as a

maechi Maechi or Mae Chee (; ), "respected mother" (แม่ + honorific suffix "- ji"), are Theravada Buddhist Nuns in Thailand. As female monastics ordained under The Eight or Ten Precepts (i.e., more than the Five Precepts taken by laypersons), ...

, residing in simplicity while effectively being under house arrest.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Suwadee, Srirasmi 1971 births Living people Srirasmi Suwadee Srirasmi Suwadee Srirasmi Suwadee Srirasmi Suwadee Srirasmi Suwadee Princesses by marriage Srirasmi Suwadee Thai female Phra Ong Chao Srirasmi Suwadee Srirasmi Suwadee 21st-century Chakri dynasty