Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn married consort Suthida Tidjai this week and named her Queen ahead of his coronation, a move which shocked Thais who had been told nothing about her by the country's heavily-censored newspapers.

The accolade marks a stratospheric rise for a woman who started her working life as an air stewardess before catching the king's eye and being made a 'bodyguard' in his personal protection and given the title of 'general'. 

The wedding, in which Suthida was made to lie on the floor at the King's feet, makes her Vajiralongkorn's fourth wife after he divorced Srirasmi Suwadee - a former waitress - in 2014.

Little is known about Suthida's life as a private citizen, other than that she was born in 1978 and attended Assumption University, a private $41,000-a-year Catholic college in Thailand's capital Bangkok.

The pair met while Suthida was an air stewardess aboard Thai Airways, where then-Prince Vajiralongkorn served as a pilot (pictured, exact date unknown)

She earned a degree in communication arts in 2000 before going to work as a stewardess for the country's national carrier Thai Airways shortly after.

It is thought she met Prince Vajiralongkorn while working for the airline, because he is a licenced pilot who sometimes flew the carrier's Boeing and Airbus jets.

Vajiralongkorn is known to have handpicked several of the stewardesses to be his mistresses despite still being married to Suwadee, with whom he has a son named Adityadornkitigun.

Suthida is thought to have occupied his affections and become his 'main mistress', spending a large amount of time with him at his private residence in Bavaria while Suwadee and her son lived back in Bangkok.

She entered the Thai military in 2010 with the rank of Second Lieutenant and was promoted to First Lieutenant just six months later.

Suthida has seldom been pictured with the royal, though the pair were photographed near Munich in 2016 where Vajiralongkorn wore a tight crop top

The Prince is believed to have kept Suthida as his favoured mistress at his private residence in Germany, where he spends most of his time

In 2012 she received her first official recognition for services to Prince Vajiralongkorn when she was awarded the Order of the White Elephant for her 'honesty, loyalty and responsibility ... dedication and sacrifice.'

At the time of the award, she was credited as being a Lieutenant Colonel. 

She has rarely been photographed with  Vajiralongkorn and the Thai press - which is heavily censored by the monarchy - had not acknowledged any kind of relationship between the pair until their wedding.

However, one extraordinary image emerged in 2016 which appeared to show Vajiralongkorn boarding a plane in Germany alongside Suthida.

She was dressed in high heels, tight trousers, a skimpy top and was clutching a large bag in one hand and the Prince's beloved pet poodle FuFu in the other.

Meanwhile the future King wore a pair of low-slung jeans, sandals and a tiny white crop top that revealed his back covered in tattoos. 

Suthida entered the military in 2010 and was quickly promoted through the ranks before being reassigned to Vajiralongkorn's personal guard and promoted to general after his father's death

She appeared alongside the new King at a cremation ceremony for his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in Bangkok in 2016 (pictured)

Around the same time she was named in foreign media reports as the Prince's 'consort', though Thai authorities refused to confirm this.

Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016, Vajiralongkorn named Suthida Commander of the Special Operations Unit of the King's Guard in  December that year.

The promotion also saw her elevated to the rank of General, after just six years in the armed forces.

The following June she was appointed acting commander of Royal Thai Aide-de-Camp Department and in October she was named a Dame Grand Cross (First Class) of The Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao.

The same month, she appeared in uniform alongside Vajiralongkorn during a military parade in Bangkok for the cremation of King Bhumibol.

Also among the crowd was another of Vajiralongkorn's suspected mistresses, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, who was once spotted alongside the king - again wearing a crop top - in Munich in 2016.

Then, on May 1 this year, King Vajiralongkorn suddenly announced that the pair had married, and she was named Queen Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya. 

According to royal tradition in Thailand, the ruling monarch is seen as god-like and semi-divine, and is revered as such among his subjects.

As a result, the King must always be seated higher than everyone else, and during official ceremonies, events, and speeches, the monarch's feet are supposed to be above the heads of those around him. 

Tradition also dictates that guests at the Thai Royal Palace are required to approach the King and Queen crawling on their hands and knees; this custom was even observed while King Maha Vajiralongkorn's father, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, sat on the throne, despite the fact that he was known to his people as a kind and humble ruler. 

It is therefore viewed as a sign of great respect for the bride to lie at the feet of the King, before being invited to sit by his side during the marriage ceremony, when she was given the official title of Queen Suthida.  

Moving forward, it will likely be expected that other members of the royal court, as well as visiting guests, will approach the royal couple in a similar manner, as one aide was seen doing during the wedding ceremony, lying before the King and his Queen while the bride signed the marriage license. 

Thailand's lese majeste laws also make it illegal to defame, threaten, or even insult 'the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent'. Article 112 of the country's criminal code dictates that anyone found guilty of this crime can be punished with between three and 15 years of jail time.

King Maha was born on July 24, 1952 in Bangkok's Royal Dusit Palace, the 64-year-old is the only son and male heir of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit.

As an adolescent he studied at two public schools in Britain, including King's Mead School, Seaford, Sussex, and then at Millfield School, Somerset. After, he embarked on a military career, training in Australia. 

In 1976, he graduated as a newly commissioned lieutenant with a liberal arts bachelors degree from the University of New South Wales. 

Pictured: Queen Sirikit of Thailand with Prince Maha (left) and Princess Rajakanya in 1953

King Maha was born on July 24, 1952 in Bangkok's Royal Dusit Palace. As an adolescent he studied at two public schools in Britain

After graduating he started a career in the military training with US, British and Australian armed forces. He also qualified as a a fixed wing helicopter pilot in the late 1970s in the Royal Thai Army.

His military career was interrupted in 1978 so he could be ordained for a season as a Buddhist monk, as is customary for all Thai Buddhist men.

He married his first wife in 1977, a cousin, Princess Soamsavali Kitiyakara, with whom he has a daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha in 1978. They divorced in 1993.

He wed his first cousin Soamsawali Kitiyakara (left) in January 1977 but nine months after she gave birth to his daughter the prince had a son with actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth

The King, a licensed pilot, in the cockpit of a fighter jet with one of his five children

Nine months after his daughter was born, the prince had a son with actress Yuvadhida Polpraserth, with whom he went on to have a total of five children and a tumultuous relationship.

Three years later his relationship broke down with Ms Polpraserth as she fled to the UK in 1996, after a spectacular bust up.

In 2001 he wed his third wife Srirasmi Suwadee, describing her as a 'modest and patient' woman who 'never says bad things towards anyone' and like his previous relationships there were to be a number of controversies in their time together. 

In 2007, footage published online showed the couple throwing a party for his pet poodle - who held the rank of Air Chief Marshall - at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. Princess Srirasmi, a former waitress, who sang happy birthday to the dog topless, also got on her knees and ate from a dog bowl in the same video.

Footage from 2007 shows Prince Maha throwing a birthday party for his pet poodle Fufu - who held the rank of Air Chief Marshall - at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. Pictured: His third wife dressed in nothing more than a G-string to celebrate Fufu's birthday 

In 2001 he wed his third wife Srirasmi Suwadee (pictured with their son Dipangkom Rasmijoti), describing her as a 'modest and patient' woman who 'never says bad things towards anyone'

In late 2014, Srirasmi suffered a very public fall from grace when several members of her family were arrested as part of a police corruption probe and charged with lese majeste (treason).

Vajiralongkorn later divorced her and she lost her royal titles . The crown prince has spent much of his time away from the public eye, but in recent years he has stepped in at some official ceremonies as his father's health declined.

Despite holding a number of military titles, including Knight of the Ancient and Auspicious Order of the Nine Gems, the prince admitted to an interviewer he was unable to tie his own shoe laces aged 12 because courtiers had always done it for him.

The crown prince has spent much of his time away from the public eye, living overseas in Germany, but in recent years he has stepped in at some official ceremonies as his father's health declined.

In August 2015 he led key figures of the current junta and thousands of others in a mass bike ride through Bangkok, a rare high-profile appearance.

He was drafted in as King in October 2016, 50 days after the death of his father, the highly revered Bhumibol Adulyadej. He had to fly back from Germany after learning of his father's deteriorating health in the days before.

Thai junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha announced that the Crown Prince would ascend the throne with tthe statement: 'The government will inform the National Legislative Assembly that His Majesty the King appointed his heir on Dec. 28, 1972.'

However, in a shock move he requested to delay his coronation and ascension to the throne for a year to mourn the passing of his father.