Prayut Chan-o-cha is a Thai retired politician and army officer who became the 29th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2014 when he seized power in a military coup, to 2023. He also served as the minister of defence, a position he held in his own government from 2019 to 2023. Prayut served as Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army from 2010 to 2014 and led the 2014 Thai coup d'état which installed the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta which governed Thailand between 22 May 2014 and 10 July 2019.