The Air Chief Marshall wants to shake hands

February 6, 2011 2:37 AM

The former head of the US Embassy in Bangkok describes an extraordinary dinner at which Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn's poodle dressed in formal evening attire complete with paw mitts ... jumped up on to the head table and began lapping from the guests’ water glasses. Apparently the poodle, Foo Foo, holds the rank of Air Chief Marshall.

Lèse majesté is a criminal offense in Thailand and the law is strongly enforced.(previously)
An Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary on the Royal Family drew protests from the Thai government, and a video in which the Crown Prince and a topless Crown Princess lavish attention on the prince's dog may have been suppressed. (NSFW)

posted by Joe in Australia (39 comments total)

Lèse majesté is a criminal offense in Thailand .
ironic link
posted by clavdivs at 2:46 AM on February 6, 2011

Foo Foo? Really? For a poodle? Is that the best they could do?

Do they also have a bulldog named Winston?
posted by PenDevil at 2:46 AM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

thats the brigider from mechanized
posted by clavdivs at 2:48 AM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

That country is going to the dogs...
posted by Philosopher's Beard at 2:52 AM on February 6, 2011

What kind of speech impediment does the prince have?
posted by Artw at 4:24 AM on February 6, 2011

A search for "Israeli poodle" brings up more than 12 times the number of results that a search for "Thai poodle" brings up. Of course, this means absolutely nothing.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 4:30 AM on February 6, 2011 [4 favorites]

When reading the MeFi description, I missed the word "poodle" at first and was really confused for a moment.
posted by Servo5678 at 4:34 AM on February 6, 2011

Artw: why do you think Crown Prince has a speech impediment?
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:53 AM on February 6, 2011

For the movie.
posted by Artw at 4:58 AM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wonder what correct Court etiquette says one should do should the Air Chief Marshall start to hump one's leg?
posted by scruss at 5:40 AM on February 6, 2011

and this is the answer to all of those who insist that wikileaks has been only releasing information that everybody knew anyway
posted by pyramid termite at 6:13 AM on February 6, 2011 [6 favorites]

That rendition of the Happy Birthday song: copyright violation. Bastards!
posted by victors at 6:34 AM on February 6, 2011

This the kind of detail you usually read in a biography that later goes on to say "and the crowd, driven to frenzy by the coup, forced the Crown Prince into womens' garments and forced him to parade from the palace to the parliament building where he was forced to eat dirt and feces and then stoned to death, and it is rumored that some spectators even saved shreds of his clothing as souvenirs."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:43 AM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

The Norwegian Army has a penguin with the rank of Colonel-in-Chief
posted by briank at 6:46 AM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thank you, Wikileaks.
posted by Jacqueline at 6:47 AM on February 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

I wonder what correct Court etiquette says one should do should the Air Chief Marshall start to hump one's leg?

tailhook.
posted by ennui.bz at 6:59 AM on February 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

The naked Princess Srirasmi Foo Foo party seems particularly pathetic. And even more pathetic that I could be jailed for saying that in Thailand.

Wouldn't the prince be mocked by his fellow officers for the Foo Foo uniform and title thing or don't they mind being a global military laughingstock?

The Harry Nicolaides story is outrageous.
posted by nickyskye at 7:27 AM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

And I felt like a crazy pet owner for getting my cat Trilby his own Metachat account. Royalty has historically often been bizarrely spoiled and self-indulgent, but sometimes the average North American can rival that.

I think (Muppet) Miss Piggy's little dog was named Foo Foo! Could it be a conicdence?
posted by orange swan at 8:12 AM on February 6, 2011

Or a coincidence?
posted by orange swan at 8:13 AM on February 6, 2011

Reminds me of the time Hamid Karzai interrupted a meeting to read us some Philip Larkin. Apparently he's quite the fan.
posted by dougrayrankin at 8:32 AM on February 6, 2011

How very different from the home life of our own dear Queen!
posted by Flitcraft at 8:58 AM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

There is no good reason why a guy smokes a pipe and fondles a miniature poodle wearing a sweater vest should be able to cavort with a topless Thai princess.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:29 AM on February 6, 2011 [2 favorites]

Lavish royal dog parties are so outmoded, its apparent the Thais just aren't keeping up.
posted by infini at 9:45 AM on February 6, 2011

lets invade cambodia
posted by clavdivs at 9:49 AM on February 6, 2011

What kind of speech impediment does the prince have?
posted by Artw
check below artw, for the latest comment in every post!

wikileaks: exposing poodles, one nation at a time.
posted by clavdivs at 10:00 AM on February 6, 2011

If there's anything weirder than having a birthday party for your dog at which your wife appears topless, it's having a birthday party for your dog at which your wife appears topless with Phil Collins' "Against All Odds" playing in the background. Oh, and the prince smoking a pipe gave it that J.R. "Bob" Dobbs touch, as well.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:36 AM on February 6, 2011 [7 favorites]

What struck me about the video was how surprisingly ordinary and predestined it, if you only start with three givens :

1. Some dog owning couples treat their dogs like children.

2. Some people are completely comfortable topless.

3. Rich people like Phil Collins.
posted by zippy at 10:59 AM on February 6, 2011 [6 favorites]

I just fed our dogs several hambones and leftover beans. Let's bring Foo Foo over and test out her Air Marshalling skills at the House of Dr. Zira. Unless Thailand has some super secret poodle gas mask technology, I doubt she'll last five minutes.
posted by Dr. Zira at 12:39 PM on February 6, 2011

"I wonder what correct Court etiquette says one should do should the Air Chief Marshall start to hump one's leg?"

I believe it would be correct to close one's eyes and think of England.
posted by MikeMc at 12:41 PM on February 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, given how little I know of Thai culture, but I thought the dog's birthday party was particularly demeaning to the princess. I don't think we should presume she wanted to appear topless at a party, in front of the servants, where she's expected to serve food to a dog. Remember that there's a huge social disparity between her and the Prince: not only is she not royalty, but she was (AIRC) a servant before he married her.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:43 PM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wish asia was the type of asia that old people talk about. The asia that has the asians eating dogs.

fucking dogs.
posted by hal_c_on at 2:27 PM on February 6, 2011

Oh, like we haven't *all* thrown naked parties for our dogs.
posted by kyrademon at 3:32 PM on February 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't think we should presume she wanted to appear topless at a party, in front of the servants, where she's expected to serve food to a dog. Remember that there's a huge social disparity between her and the Prince: not only is she not royalty, but she was (AIRC) a servant before he married her.

Good point. More background on Princess Sriasmi: She is the prince's third wife and almost twenty years his junior, and the Wikipedia on her is not entirely clear about her background - she's described as a "civil servant," which has a much more professional ring than "servant," but then it describes her job as "waiting on" the Prince without any further detail. She had attended some college before she married - basically sounds middle class. The prince's previous marriages were to a first cousin and then an actress, and it sounds like both divorces were pretty ugly.
posted by naoko at 4:36 PM on February 6, 2011

Side note: is it common in other countries to sing "Happy Birthday" in English at birthday parties? I just watched Babies a couple days ago and the Japanese family sang it, which kind of surprised me, and then here it was again.
posted by naoko at 4:39 PM on February 6, 2011

Dogs feature prominantly in this 2011's new year card from the King of Thailand.
posted by ninebelow at 3:14 AM on February 7, 2011

I was there recently because my friend is from there originally, so we had a free place to stay in Hua Hin, and also because we just couldn't take the snow anymore so we jetted...everyone (in private) talked about how uneasy they were about the King's health and how things would turn out once his son takes over.

This is probably not going to ease their minds.
posted by jnaps at 7:56 AM on February 7, 2011

I want to return to Thailand without any problems with lèse majesté, but my best friend in BKK is close to the, uh, Situation, and the juicy gossip just never stops. Basically: EWWWWWWWW.
posted by cyndigo at 12:30 PM on February 7, 2011

Kyle: It's not cheating if you spread peanut butter on your balls and let your dog lick it off.
[Josh, Rubin and E.L. are understandably repulsed]
Kyle: Because it's your dog.
posted by dougrayrankin at 1:09 PM on February 7, 2011

I think the Princess has a very nice hat.
posted by Dr. Zira at 1:25 PM on February 7, 2011