Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn shot at with air pistol while cycling in Germany

The king of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn, was shot at with rubber pellets by two teenage boys while he was cycling late at night through the Bavarian town of Erding in Germany. The king has, however, not been injured in the incident, authorities said.

The 64-year-old king was with his entourage near Munich airport during the incident on 10 June. The boys – aged 13 and 14 – fired air pistols from the window of a house.

They also shot at the group when they were driving past in the king's car. No one is said to have been injured in both the incidents, but Vajiralongkorn's entourage informed the police and an investigation has been launched, the BBC reported.

Thomas Rauscher, a spokesman for the local prosecutor's office, told BBC that it's not clear if the boys fired intentionally at the king.

"All that is known is that the king was part of a group of cyclists and that shots were fired at this group. The total number of shots is as yet unknown. We know however that more than one shot was fired," Rauscher said.

It was also not clear whether the boys knew who they were firing at, reports said.

Although the king has declined to press charges against the boys, the 14-year-old has been investigated on suspicion of attempted bodily harm, because in Germany "it is not up to the victim to decide [about the charges]" Rauscher said.

But the 13-year-old was not being probed because he is too young to face prosecution under German law.

Unlike his father, the late king Bhumibol Adulyadej, Vajiralongkorn is yet to win over the hearts of the Thai people, who looked up to his father as a pillar of stability during seven decades of political turmoil in the country.

Vajiralongkorn spends most of his time in Germany and owns two villas on Lake Starnberg, about 60km (37.5 miles) away from Erding, Bild Zeitung reports. The common people of Thailand do not know much about their new king, but many remember him as a cycling enthusiast who led a 2015 cycling event in Bangkok in honour of his mother, Queen Sirikit.