--- description: King Maha Vajiralongkorn is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Charlie Campbell wrote about the King of Thailand. title: King Maha Vajiralongkorn by Charlie Campbell: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff1dc4d0bd72f73b/6988c342a988ca84966bbca7/time-100-2017-maha-vajiralongkorn-thailand-king.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 19, 2017 # King Maha Vajiralongkorn by Charlie Campbell  Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn walks with his daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha during a ceremony for the official opening of Ratchapakdi Park in Hua Hin, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015\. The park features seven giant statues of former Thai kings. (AP Photo/Mark Baker) Thailand's Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn walks with his daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha during a ceremony for the official opening of Ratchapakdi Park in Hua Hin, 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015\. The park features seven giant statues of former Thai kings. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)Photograph by Mark Baker—AP Scandal has closely followed Thailand’s new King. As Crown Prince, Maha Vajiralongkorn made headlines for giving his pet poodle a military rank, ordering a takeout meal from a Thai restaurant 6,000 miles away in the U.K. and having a penchant for crop tops and yakuza-style temporary tattoos. In October, the now 64-year-old succeeded his revered father Bhumibol Adulyadej as sovereign of the 70 million–strong Southeast Asian nation. With Bhumibol’s passing, Vajiralongkorn inherited the world’s largest royal fortune, once estimated at $30 billion. However, the deep love his father earned over seven decades of dutiful rule will be harder for Vajiralongkorn to acquire. The thrice-divorced Vajiralongkorn’s eccentric lifestyle is a source of great anxiety for Thais, who hold the monarchy in high esteem as a figurehead and guarantor of stability. Thailand is America’s oldest ally in Asia, and its imperfect yet enduring democracy serves as a beacon for the downtrodden citizens of its more authoritarian neighbors. The world waits to see how Vajiralongkorn will use his power at a time when junta rule is entrenched and dissent brutally quashed. _Campbell is TIME’s Beijing correspondent_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736332/king-maha-vajiralongkorn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736332/king-maha-vajiralongkorn/"},"headline":"King Maha Vajiralongkorn","datePublished":"2017-04-19T19:25:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:39.206Z","description":"King Maha Vajiralongkorn is on the TIME 100 2017 list. Charlie Campbell wrote about the King of Thailand.","url":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736332/king-maha-vajiralongkorn/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff1dc4d0bd72f73b/6988c342a988ca84966bbca7/time-100-2017-maha-vajiralongkorn-thailand-king.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff1dc4d0bd72f73b/6988c342a988ca84966bbca7/time-100-2017-maha-vajiralongkorn-thailand-king.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736332/king-maha-vajiralongkorn/","name":"King Maha Vajiralongkorn"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See All the TIME 100 Honorees in One Minute","description":"The TIME 100 honorees include actors, musicians, politicians, business leaders, activists and scientists, and together make a portrait of influence in 2017.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zZCdrcRA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-04-20T10:30:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zZCdrcRA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736332/king-maha-vajiralongkorn/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2017-time-100/4736332/king-maha-vajiralongkorn/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```