Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has paid homage to his ancestors - including his late father and the former monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej - as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend.
He was accompanied by his new wife Queen Suthida, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, who made her first official public appearance since the announcement of their surprise marriage ceremony on Wednesday.
The newly weds knelt beside one another on Thursday as they paid their respects to statues of previous Chakri dynasty monarchs in Bangkok's historic quarter.
It comes as part of the King's highly-anticipated coronation - which is set to take place from Saturday to Monday and will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago.
Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida arrive to pay their respects to his ancestors - including his late father and the former monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej - at the King Rama V monument in Bangkok as part of preparations for his elaborate coronation ceremonies this weekend
The newly weds kneel beside one another on Thursday as they pay their respects to statues of previous Chakri dynasty monarchs in Bangkok's historic quarter
The 66-year-old royal - also known by the title of King Rama X - became a constitutional monarch after the death of his revered father in October 2016.
Photos released on Wednesday showed the Queen lying on the floor as she was given a gift by the King during the marriage ceremony.
She 'legally married' her husband in accordance with royal traditions, an announcement in the Royal Gazette said, with a statement from the royal family explaining that the King had decided to promote General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Aydhaya, his royal consort, to become Queen Suthida'.
King Vajiralongkorn, front left, and Queen Suthida arrive at Royal Plaza. The newly titled royal oozed elegance in a cream blazer and matching skirt for her first public appearance since the announcement of their surprise marriage ceremony on Wednesday.
Their visit comes as part of the King's highly-anticipated coronation - which is set to take place from Saturday to Monday and will be the first since Vajiralongkorn's late father's nearly 70 years ago
King Vajiralongkorn (pictured centre) was accompanied by Queen Suthida (right) and his daughter Princess Bajrakitiyabha (left). The King has seven children
According to CNN, the statement added that the King's long-term consort 'will hold royal title and status as part of the royal family'.
It was also explained that the monarch had 'performed a royal wedding ceremony with General Suthida Vajiralongkorn Na Aydhaya in accordance to law and royal traditions in a full and righteous manner', which explains why the bride had to lay at her husband's feet.
Thai royal traditions dictate that the ruling king is to be regarded as god-like and semi-divine, and as a result, he must sit higher than everyone else, to the point that, during official ceremonies and speeches, his feet should be elevated above everyone else's heads.
During the ceremony, once the royal couple is seated, the bride is able to sit alongside her husband - as Queen Suthida is shown doing in images from the wedding.
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.
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn has married his long-term consort Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, pictured during the ceremony at the Ampornsan Throne Hall in Bangkok, just days before his coronation
Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, newly named Queen Suthida, prays at the feet of her husband during the ceremony
Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya, a former Thai Airways flight attendant, 'legally married' the King in accordance with royal traditions
