His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn was born on July 28,
1952, in the Ambara Villa of the Royal Dusit Palace in Bangkok. He is
the second of four children, and is the only son of Their Majesties King
Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great and Queen Sirikit.
The Crown Prince received his primary schooling at
Udorn Hall of the Dusit Palace and attended secondary school in Sussex
and Summerset, England. In August 1970, the Crown Prince attended the
King’s School, Paramatta, Sydney, Australia and in 1976, he received a
Bachelor of Arts Degree in Military Studies at the University of New
South Wales. HRH the Crown Prince also attended the Royal Thai Army
Command and General Staff College, graduating in 1978, and later
received a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Sukhothai Thammatirat University
in Bangkok in 1987. In 1990, he successfully attended the Royal College
of Defense Studies in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland.
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej conferred his son
with the title of “Somdech Phra Borama Orasadhiraj Chao Fah Maha
Vajiralongkorn Sayam Makutrajakuman” on December 28, 1972, making him
the Crown Prince and Heir to the throne.
HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn attended
numerous military training courses in Australia and the United States,
with observation tours in England, Belgium, Germany, France and the
Netherlands. A long list of military courses attended by the Crown
Prince includes helicopter and high performance aircraft flight
training, special warfare training, demolition training, parachute
training, and courses in small arms and other weapons used in modern
warfare.
Some assignments include Commanding Officer of the
King’s Own Bodyguard Regiment and Command; Commanding General of the
Royalty Security Command; and Instructor Pilot of the F-5 E/F.
Intermittently, he engaged in actions for counter-insurgency purposes in
the North and Northeast areas of Thailand as well as for protective
purposes in areas around Cambodian refugee camps at Khao Lant, Trat
Province.
The Crown Prince has continued the Royal Family’s
assistance programs to underdeveloped areas around the country and
visited depressed urban areas around Bangkok distributing food and
necessity items to people in need. Another impressive undertaking was
his participation in a fertilizer preparation project in Suphanburi
Province using natural ingredients to enrich the land in support of the
country’s great agricultural pursuits. Farming is considered to be a
highly significant and noble profession in Thailand and the Royal Family
takes an active role in advancing the vital industry of agriculture.
HRH Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and his Royal Consort
Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasm are the proud parents of HRH Prince
Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, born on April 29, 2005, at Siriraj Hospital in
Bangkok. It is the couple’s first child.
Also in 2005, HRH Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn
officially opened the splendid multi-million baht new Royal Varuna Yacht
Club, built on its choice seaside property at Kasetsin Beach, South
Pattaya. Before an assembled crowd of ministers, Royal Thai Navy
officers, Palace and Pattaya City officials, and a large number of Royal
Varuna members, including a number of past club commodores, HRH the
Crown Prince activated the ceremonial curtain, revealing the Varuna
logo, thus officially opening the club.
In February 2010, HRH Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and
his Royal Consort Her Royal Highness Princess Srirasm personally donated
one million baht to help quake-hit victims in the Caribbean country of
Haiti. The donation was made via the “Sai Yai Rak Haeng Krob Krua
(Family’s Bond of Love)” project under the royal patronage of HRH Crown
Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn
graciously piloted a special Buddhist Pilgrimage Flight, departing
Bangkok for Gaya, India on November 13, 2010, and attended by Her Royal
Highness Princess Srirasm, Her Royal Highness Princess Bajarakitiyabha,
and His Royal Highness Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti. Part of the proceeds
from the special prices to be invited to be on this flight went to His
Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn’s Scholarship
Foundation. Set up in 2009, this program was established to create
scholarship opportunities for young Thai students with financial
hardship but who attained exceptional academic performance in school and
exhibited determination in learning, good behavior and morals.
Qualifying students are granted scholarships for study in high school,
undergraduate university education to earn a Bachelor’s Degree or the
equivalent, and through to the highest level of post-graduate study.
Students who are awarded this scholarship are considered the future of
Thai society, whereby there is no commitment to pay back the equivalent
value of scholarship through service. Two students (one of each gender)
from each province who fit the criteria are selected. The first academic
class in 2009 had 152 scholarship recipients, while the total currently
throughout Thailand is well over 300.
In April last year, HRH Crown Prince Maha
Vajiralongkorn and his Royal Consort HRH Princess Srirasm gave flood and
mudslide victims utensils in Krabi’s Khao Phanom district. Some
Bt700,000 of donated money from the Dipangkorn Rasmijoti Fund was spent
to buy the utensils, while the rest was given to flood and mudslide
victims in six districts of Krabi, including Khao Phanom.
The Pattaya Mail Media Group humbly joins the Kingdom
of Thailand in offering our best wishes to HRH Crown Prince Maha
Vajiralongkorn on the occasion of His Royal Birthday Celebration, July
28.
