Informal pictures show Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi aiming a rifle and piloting plane

Thailand’s palace has released rare images and a biography of the king’s newly anointed royal consort, including candid and action-packed photos of her aiming a weapon on a firing range, piloting a plane and preparing to parachute.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn bestowed the rank of “Chao Khun Phra”, or noble consort, on the 34-year-old former army nurse Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi on his 67th birthday in July.

Deputy prime minister denies reports that Thailand is holding the three activists in custody

Three Thai activists facing charges of insulting the monarchy have disappeared after reportedly being arrested in Vietnam, rights groups said, months after two exiled critics of the military and monarchy died.

Thailand’s deputy prime minister, Prawit Wongsuwan, denied the activists were in Thai custody, as has been reported by the Thai Alliance for Human Rights.

Pro-democracy politicians question official figures released after 45-day delay

Thailand’s junta looks likely to hang on to power after official results from the general election were finally announced following a 45-day delay that raised serious questions about the complex formula used to calculate the vote.

Thailand has been in political limbo for six weeks while the election commission refused to release the official results of the 24 March poll. It was the first in eight years and was supposed to mark the country’s return to democracy after five years of rule by a military junta.

King vows to ‘reign with righteousness’ as Bangkok becomes a sea of royal yellow

It was a day of parades, ancient rituals, Buddhist chanting and gold as far as the eye could see. For its first coronation in seven decades, Thailand pulled out all the stops.

In an elaborate ceremony that fused Buddhist and Hindu Brahmin rituals, King Maha Vajiralongkorn was doused with holy water, had the royal crown placed on his head and received a symbolic nine-tiered umbrella vesting him as King Rama X of Thailand.

Thailand has crowned its new king, Maha Vajiralongkorn, in an elaborate ceremony at the Grand Palace in Bangkok that fused ancient Buddhist and Hindu Brahmin rituals. Vajiralongkorn vowed to 'reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the people forever'

• Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn is crowned as three-day coronation begins
• King Vajiralongkorn: who is Thailand's new monarch?
  

King Maha Vajiralongkorn has been crowned at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, beginning three days of elaborate, centuries-old ceremonies

Eccentric, privileged and ‘a bit of a Don Juan’, he will hope to draw same loyalty as his father

The life of King Vajiralongkorn, who on Sunday will finally be crowned in Thailand two years after ascending the throne, has been defined by both privilege and eccentricity.

Rarely seen making public appearances or speeches, and known for spending most of his time living in Germany where he owns a $13m (£11.6m) mansion in an affluent area of Munich, Vajiralongkorn has yet to inspire the same devout loyalty and stature as his father, King Bhumibol, who died in 2016 after seven decades on the throne.

Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married his deputy head of security in a surprise ceremony broadcast on all Thai TV channels, days before the king's official coronation. Although the bride, Suthida Tidjai, had been linked romantically with the king before, the palace had never acknowledged any relationship

•  Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn weds bodyguard in surprise ceremony