The government on Tuesday declared Her Majesty Queen Suthida’s birthday a national holiday.
The new holiday, which falls on June 3, is effectively immediately, an official told the media. Queen Suthida recently married King Vajiralongkorn on May 1.
The government has yet to decide whether the birthday of the previous reigning queen, August 12, will remain a public holiday.
The wife of the late King Bhumibol, former Queen Sirikit was reassigned the royal title of Queen Dowager on May 5.
Here are some facts about the new queen from the palace’s household bureau, past royal decrees and media.
– She graduated from Assumption University, a private university in Bangkok, with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts in 2000, according to the Thai Rath newspaper.
– She worked as a flight attendant at Thai Airways before joining the protection unit of then-Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn.
– She already held the rank of general in the Royal Thai Army before her marriage, having been promoted to the position in December 2016 by King Vajiralongkorn by royal decree shortly after he took the throne following the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
– Before the wedding, she was deputy commander of the King’s Own Bodyguard Regiment. The king himself is commander of the unit, and he first designated her to the special officer unit of Crown Prince’s Bodyguard Regiment in 2013.
The palace has not yet released an official biography of Her Majesty.
