Who is King Maha Vajiralongkorn and why is the Thai monarch threatening to sue Facebook? All you need to know

KING Maha Vajiralongkorn succeeded to the throne of Thailand in December last year - 50 days after his father died.

The 64-year-old is known for his bizarre and ostentatious lifestyle - but let's find out a little more about the Thai monarch.

Who is King Maha Vajiralongkorn?

King Maha Vajiralongkorn was born in 1952 and was the only son of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit's four children.

After completing primary school at the Dusit Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, he was sent to Britain for his education.

The then prince studied at King's Mead School in Seaford, Sussex, before being send to Millfield School in Somerset.

He finished secondary education in 1970 and attended a five-week military training course before being enrolled at the Royal Military College in Canberra, Australia.

He was proclaimed crown prince of the Chakri Dynasty in December 1972.

As is traditional for royals, he was ordained as a monk when he as 26 and stayed at a major Buddhist temple in Bangkok for 15 days.

Maha graduated as a newly commissioned lieutenant with a liberal arts degree in 1976 and in 1982 obtained a second bachelor's degree.

He served in the Royal Thai Army and is a qualified helicopter pilot.

His military role in recent years has become increasingly ceremonial.

Maha has been married three times and has seven children.

His first wife Princess Soamsawali Kitiyakara was his first cousin on his mother's side and they had one daughter.

His second wife Mom Sujarinee, an aspiring actress, decamped to Britain two years after their marriage with their five children.

Maha put posters around the palace accusing her of adultery and later abducted their daughter and brought her back to Thailand.

Sujarinee and her sons were stripped of their titles and diplomatic passports and moved to the United States.

Maha married for a third time in 2001 to a commoner - Srirasmi Suwadee - who was elevated to rank of princess after giving birth to their son 12 years ago.

They divorced in 2014 and her family was stripped of their royal name, while she received 200 million baht (£4million) as a settlement.

When was Vajiralongkorn crowned?

King Bhumibol Adulyadej died on October 13, 2016, and Maha was expected to succeed to the throne immediately.

But he asked for time to mourn his 88-year-old father, who had held the throne for 70 years.

On December 1, 2016, Maha was invited to ascend the throne as the tenth king of the Chakri dynasty - 50 days after his father's death.

Why is the Thai monarch threatening to sue Facebook?

King Maha Vajiralongkorn has threatened to sue Facebook after footage apparently showing him strolling around in a crop top emerged.

The man, said to be the king, can be seen walking through a shopping centre with his top rolled up - boldly revealing his heavily-tattooed body.

Thailand says the clip, which has gone viral, needs to be removed and internet chiefs in the country are reported to have emailed Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg personally asking him to remove it.

It is not the first time the monarch has been spotted in such attire.

In October he was snapped at a Munich airport wearing a rolled-up tank top, sagging jeans and fake tattoos with a poodle in tow.

And here are more of his maddest moments.

What other bizarre behaviour has the King apparently shown?

Vajiralongkorn once declared his favourite pet, a poodle named Foo Foo, an air marshal.

He even took the pooch to a 2007 reception hosted in his honour by US Ambassador Ralph “Skip” Boyce.

“Foo Foo was . . . dressed in formal evening attire complete with paw mitts, and at one point during the band’s second number, he jumped up onto the head table and began lapping from the guests’ water glasses,” Boyce wrote, according to a WikiLeaks document.

“The Air Chief Marshal’s antics . . . remains the talk of the town to this day.”

Tales of the prince’s behaviour exist mostly in the realm of rumour in Thailand. The nation has strict laws banning stories about the royal family.

But in 2007, the depravity of Vajiralongkorn’s court was exposed when a video surfaced of his third wife, Princess Srirasmi, a former bar waitress, walking around topless at her own birthday party while eating cake with Foo Foo.

When the dog died last year, it was given a four-day funeral.