At the critical royal transition, royal image making is vital, even if it is too late for Vajiralongkorn to reinvent himself. It might be true that Vajiralongkorn might care little about his own image in public. The mysterious death of Moh Yong seems to suggest this argument.
But the recent episode revealing the Crown Prince in shocking dresses has caused great anxiety, particularly among royalists who fear that the nation’s next reign will end in disaster. A throne in trouble is trouble for them too.
Pavin Chachavalpongpun is Associate Professor at Kyoto University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies.