Former exiles return as succession drama swirls around world’s richest throne

Vajiralongkorn is a 72-year-old international man of controversy with massive personal wealth but no clear heir.

His first child, a daughter with his first wife, suffered a massive brain injury in December 2022 from which she is not expected to recover. His younger daughter is a fashion designer who holds a top military rank. The princesses are not considered candidates for the throne, although there is speculation they could act as guiding hands to their youngest half-brother. At 19, Prince Dipangkorn has spent much of his life out of the public eye, and there are questions over his ability to take the throne.

This leaves the four exiles, or Team America as they have been called by some on social media. All were born between 1979 and 1985, to Vajiralongkorn’s second wife, an actor.

The brothers were stripped of their titles after the divorce and given a new name, Vivacharawongse, but their status in the royal line of succession has always been murky.

The eldest, Juthavachara, has a career in aviation. The youngest, Vatchrawee, has business degrees and a career in finance. They are the latest to return.

The second son, Vacharaesorn, was the first to return and has been the one most open about his desire to return to public life; while his words are modest, he poses as if performing royal duties.

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“I came here privately,” Vacharaesorn, a lawyer, told the Bangkok Post last year. “No one told me to come. I am not representing anyone. I don’t want to compete for anything … I have no resources, no power. I don’t have aspirations beyond providing value in my own capacity.”

The third brother, Chakriwat, is a doctor who has battled chronic illness but lately found work at a Bangkok hospital.

Sources close to the family, forbidden from speaking openly because of the country’s notorious lese-majesty laws that can impose 15-year jail terms for criticism of senior royals, point out the four brothers each have their own complicated relationship with their father and their homeland. What they have in common, these sources say, is their desire to protect their mother.

Law and societal conventions prevent open discussion of the monarchy and the succession drama that will play out as Vajiralongkorn ages, but the very fact of the princes’ return suggests a shift within the palace. Those around the king may be positioning themselves for the future.

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Other factors may be at play: the king’s mother is in her 90s and has long been ill, and with his eldest daughter not expected to recover there is a need to project a sense that the family is strong and has a future.

The family needs options, although none of them is a perfect choice. Vacharaesorn has been in the tabloids for his US family and business dealings, but has deflected questions.

“I have made a life for myself in my 27 years in the United States,” he told the Bangkok Post. “Although my private life is still subject to scrutiny and speculation, it is a private matter with no relevance to any of my activities in Thailand.

“As a private citizen, I am entitled to a modicum of peace and privacy in my personal life.”

That will change should he take up a more public role.

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