An old photo of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn cooking during the Covid-19 pandemic has surfaced in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed the royal preparing food for victims of severe flooding triggered by Typhoon Yagi in September 2024. In fact, the photo was released by the Royal Office in June 2021 and features the king and royal noble consort Sineenat Bilaskalayani in Bangkok, rather than the flood-hit Chiang Rai in the north.
“He didn’t need to be covered by media or anyone to welcome him officially. He flew a helicopter himself to Mae Sai district and went to the kitchen to cook meals with his own fortune. He is a true giver and truly cares about the Thai people,” read a Thai-language Facebook post on September 13, 2024.
Mae Sai district is the northernmost district in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, bordering Myanmar. Along with Vietnam, the Southeast Asian neighbours have been hit with severe floods after Typhoon Yagi barrelled through the region and left more than 500 people dead (archived link).
The floods in Chiang Rai were the worst it had seen in 80 years.
The attached photo of King Vajiralongkorn and royal noble consort Sineenat cooking over a pan has accumulated over 62,000 likes and 5,300 shares since it was posted.
The post surfaced after Thai newspaper Matichon reported reported King Vajiralongkorn had instructed his privy council to deliver survival kits to flood victims in another northern Thai province, Phitsanulok (archived link).
The same photo was shared alongside similar false claims on Facebook here and here, on TikTok here, and on X here.
But there have been no official reports from the Thai palace of the monarch travelling to Chiang Rai to oversee flood relief efforts as of September 18, 2024 (archived link).
Photo from Covid-19 pandemic
A reverse image search on Google led to the same photo posted on the official website of Thailand’s royal office on June 12, 2021 (archived link).
The report also featured several photos of the king and the royal noble consort and says they visited a kitchen inside the Dusit Palace in Bangkok to prepare meals for medical professionals who had been treating Covid-19 patients.
“His Majesty the King prepared the food himself such as noodles with stewed pork and chicken … all of which are nutritious and healthy dishes, especially when they contain herbs like fingerroot that help fight Covid-19.
“The meals would enhance the medics’ immunity so they can continue to perform duties in treating patients,” the report reads.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image shared in the false post [(left) and the photo published on the royal office website (right):
Thai news outlets Spring News and Manager also published the same photo of the king cooking alongside their reports about the royals preparing food for medics on June 12, 2021 (archived links here and here).
AFP has debunked other misinformation related to the flooding in northern Thailand here, here and here.
