World-famous performer Britney Spears is ready to appear by video link before a Los Angeles court on Wednesday.
It is a rare request by Spears to speak about control over her personal life and finances, being managed by her father under a 13-year conservatorship.
Fans of the former star of Disney's Mickey Mouse Club and the singer of countless hits including ... Baby One More Time and Toxic are focused on the conservatorship, which they say has affected every aspect of Spears's life.
What is a conservatorship?
A court can order a conservatorship when it decides a person is unable to make independent decisions.
Often placed on elderly or disabled people, conservatorships place an individual's finances and decisions under the direction of a third party – in Spears's case, it is her father, Jamie Spears, and others.
What led to the conservatorship?
Spears, 39, was placed under a temporary court-ordered conservatorship in 2008 by a Los Angeles court after a very public breakdown.
She entered and left rehab twice within a few days and lost custody of her two children in 2007.
Tabloids chronicled her various headline-grabbing escapades, including when she shaved her head and when she attacked a paparazzo's car with an umbrella.
During her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2007, Spears alarmed many by her disoriented appearance on stage.
In 2008, she was admitted to hospital twice for psychiatric observation.
Under the temporary conservatorship, her father and a lawyer managed her financial and business activities as well as decisions in her personal life.
A few months after the initial court order in 2008, a judge extended the conservatorship indefinitely.
Mr Spears now acts as co-conservator with a financial trust.
The star has, since 2008, released three albums, appeared as a judge on the US TV show The X Factor, performed on a world tour and held a two-year concert residency at a Las Vegas theatre.
After recently cancelling another residency, she announced she was going on an “indefinite work hiatus” and has become more active on Instagram, where she has more than 30 million followers.
Does she want the conservatorship to end?
Concerned fans have long questioned the length and necessity of the conservatorship and whether Spears has had proper access to the money she made while under the arrangement.
“If I wasn't under the restraints I'm under right now, with all the lawyers and doctors and people analysing me every day, if that wasn't there, I'd feel so liberated," Spears said in an MTV documentary in 2008.
"When I tell them the way I feel, it's like they hear, but they're really not listening."
In February, The New York Times released a documentary on FX and Hulu chronicling the conservatorship, gaining her legal affairs further attention.
The newspaper on Tuesday published a story citing confidential court documents that show Spears has for years been pushing to end the conservatorship.
What is the #FreeBritney movement?
Born out of a podcast that analysed Spears's Instagram posts, the hashtag #FreeBritney became the slogan of a protest movement in Los Angeles that called for her freedom from the conservatorship.
#FreeBritney participants say her ordeal is a case of abuse of the US conservatorship and guardianship system.
The movement has attracted the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has offered legal support to the performer.
What can we expect from Wednesday's hearing?
Spears's legal representatives have given no clues as to what the singer might say in court.
The New York Times said Spears told a closed-door court hearing in early 2019 about abuses she had experienced during the conservatorship.
Representatives for her father, 68, declined to comment to the Times article before the court hearing.
In 2020, Spears and her legal team objected to Mr Spears's move to seal a court filing in the case.
Her statement to the court ended with the words: "The world is watching."
Mr Spears and the other conservators have said the singer could ask the court to end the conservatorship at any time, but she has largely been mum on the issue in public.
His lawyer, Vivian Thoreen, told CNN this spring: "He would love nothing more than to see Britney not need a conservatorship.
"Whether or not there is an end to the conservatorship really depends on Britney," she said.
"If she wants to end her conservatorship, she can file a petition to end it."
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
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Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
