The return of Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse was revealed in a video posted online on Sunday, showing him in the arrival hall of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, receiving a warm welcome from supporters.
The return comes at a sensitive time for the Thai royal family: the king’s eldest daughter has been in a coma since December.
Vivacharawongse, 42, who works for a New York law firm, is King Vajiralongkorn’s second child with his second wife, former actress Sujarinee Vivacharawongse. The then prince divorced Sujarinee, who was accused of adultery in 1996. Sujarinee and her children later moved abroad. The youngest daughter was brought back by the royal family and given the title Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, but the four children remain estranged and have no formal honorary titles.
The Royal Palace has not commented on the return of Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse.
Vacharaesorn visited the Slum Child Care Foundation and donated money to the institution, according to the foundation’s Facebook page, adding that the king’s son “greeted the children thoughtfully and showed great interest in the foundation’s work.” to help less privileged children and families”.
Photos of Vacharaesorn hugging and talking to the children are seen on the Facebook page.
Within a day of his arrival, videos of Vacharaesorn were broadcast visiting various religious sites in Bangkok, including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in the Grand Palace. He posted on his Facebook page a photo of himself on a motorized trike captioned “Bangkok Tuk-Tuk”.
King Vajiralongkorn, 71, has been married four times and has seven children, but has not announced an official heir. His fourth marriage to Queen Suthida was announced just days before his coronation in 2019. The king ascended to the throne after the death of his father Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016.
In December, the Palace announced that Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, 44, had collapsed due to a cardiac arrhythmia, which it later said was due to an infection. She has since been in a coma, according to the most recent Palace bulletin on her condition issued in January.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
