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WHEN the Queen and Prince Philip arrive in Bangkok next week to begin their state visit to Thailand they will find sanctuary from media salaciousness.

In the land of the Golden Umbrellas there is no such thing as a misbehaving royal family. Reporting anything which shows the Chakri dynasty in an unflattering light in the Thai press is a criminal offence. But when the two royal families meet there will be ample opportunity for the distinguished monarch-parents to compare notes - not least because Crown Prince Maha Vijiralongkorn, aged 44 - four years younger than the Prince of Wales - is experiencing marital fireworks.

Bangkok has found out about the heir to the throne's domestic strife in spectacular fashion. The Prince did not need intruding tabloids to break the news for him. Last summer he put up posters on his own palace wall proclaiming his wife an "adulterer", who ran off with a London-based Thai defence official.

Bangkok sources indicate that the Prince has recently conducted a secret divorce - and is now seeing "a variety of ladies". He is said to have spirited his young daughter out of Britain earlier this year on the advice of the family fortune-teller. The Queen and Prince Philip are to meet the prince at a private dinner at Bang Pa-In Palace hosted by his parents, the 68-year-old King Bhumipol, the world's longest serving monarch, and his consort, Queen Sirikit.

When the Duke of Edinburgh the next day visits the Bridge over the River Kwai, built by PoW slave labour on the territory of Japan's Siamese wartime ally, the Queen may have a chance to reflect with her hosts on the difficulties of having a maritally-troubled heir.

Comparisons have been made between the two wifeless princes. Both have been long groomed to accede to the throne and have expressed concern for the spiritual well-being of their nations. But references to the Crown Prince as a "playboy" have caused imported Western newspapers to be banned from Thailand.

The Crown Prince issued a statement three years ago rejecting allegations that he was connected to illicit business operations. They included rumours that he backed a syndicate caught rigging the national lottery and had allowed massage parlours to stay open beyond the 2am curfew. He admitted he felt "hurt and disheartened" about the rumours. "They seem to want to dump everything bad on me," he said.

Princess Sucharinee now lives as a recluse in north London under the name "Mrs Mahidol"

His mother told American journalists in a rare interview a decade ago: "My son is a little bit of a Don Juan. Women find him interesting, and he finds women even more interesting. So his family life is not so smooth."

So it has turned out. What the Thai public does not generally know is that Princess Sucharinee, a former actress whom the Prince married two years ago after a long relationship, now lives as a recluse in north London under the name "Mrs Mahidol".

She fled to Britain after the wall poster accused her and her alleged lover, Anand Rotsamkhan, a 60-year-old Thai air marshal, of "adultery". A commoner, the princess had never been fully accepted into the royal family. Now the family has disowned her.

The prince had an earlier wife, Princess Soamsawali, whom he divorced five years ago, complaining that she spent too much time playing table tennis. Now, under the discreet watch of the Metropolitan Police's Royal and Diplomatic Protection Squad, Mrs Mahidol sends her sons, the 15 and 16-year-old serene highnesses, to Harrow School from her Pinner home.

It is aid in Bangkok that the Crown Prince came to London in July to take their daughter, Princess Mom Chao Busnamphej, back to Thailand after a local fortune-teller told his father that the birth of a girl after four sons was inauspicious for the dynasty.

The royal rift has long been the whispered talk of smart Bangkok society. But ordinary Thais found out only in June when the prince stuck the proclamation outside his palace. "Everyone knows what is going on," said a Thai royal watcher - but the prince's affairs are absolutely not to be talked about in public.

"These two people have been declared persona non grata and expelled from the palace," the poster said. "If anyone sees them they must be shunned. Anand has been expelled from his position. If he does anything else he will be punished. The Institution (royal family) and Thai government do not want him to return."

The princess's clothes and personal possessions were reportedly dumped in the street that night. The royal succession is a controversial topic in a country where the dignity of the monarchy provides political ballast for an exploding economy and a restless military.

The jazz-loving King Bhumipol has had two operations in the past 18 months to enlarge a narrowed artery, raising worrying questions about his longevity. Comparisons between the two divorced heirs apparent are easy to draw. But there is a difference. British royalty is under relentless media attack and the age of deference is at an end. In Thailand, the royal family still commands popular respect.

10 June 1996: Mercy for jailed Britons as Thai king celebrates

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