Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, the king’s eldest daughter, has died aged 47, the royal palace announced, more than three years after she was hospitalised following a sudden illness.
She was suffering from an abdominal infection and “her condition continued to worsen” until she “passed away peacefully” on Thursday evening, the Bureau of the Royal Household said in a statement yesterday.
The late princess will lie in state at the Grand Palace in Bangkok and her funeral will be held “with the highest honours according to royal tradition”, it said.
Known in Thailand as “Princess Bha”, the only child from King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s first marriage had been in hospital since falling ill suddenly in December 2022.
The Bureau of the Royal Household said in May that her condition had deteriorated and she was relying on medical devices to support her lung and kidney functions, as well as medication.
Bajrakitiyabha was the only child of King Vajiralongkorn’s marriage to Princess Soamsawali.
A trained prosecutor and diplomat, Bajrakitiyabha was educated in Britain, Thailand and the United States, earning a law degree from Cornell University and serving for a time as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria.
The princess told a campus audience about her professional background during a 2012 visit to the US law school.
“I ask myself now, what am I exactly? A prosecutor? A criminal lawyer? A diplomat? The answer is everything all together. I say I am a hybrid,” she said, according to the Cornell Chronicle.
She also held several positions with the United Nations and became an advocate for women’s rights, including improved conditions for women in prison.
“She was loved, respected and admired by people throughout the kingdom. She was kind, talented and of exemplary conduct,” Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a televised address yesterday.
“She dedicated her life to promoting justice, equality, human dignity and rights in society. I invite all Thai people to join in mourning her passing and to follow her example as an inspiration in serving the king and the monarchy.”
As princess, Bajrakitiyabha held an important ceremonial role in Thai society – where the royal family sits at the apex.
She was seen as close to her father, and was appointed to a senior role in his bodyguard command a year before her hospitalisation.
A royal procession carrying her body is scheduled to move tomorrow afternoon from the hospital to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, where traditional royal rites will be conducted in the Piman Rattaya Hall.
The government has invited members of the public to pay their respects and make merit, and official buildings will lower flags to half-mast for 15 days.
Mourners gathered yesterday to pay their respects at Chulalongkorn Hospital, where Bajrakitiyabha had been receiving treatment, some clutching portraits of the late princess.
“When I heard the announcement, I was very sad,” said Thanyaporn Arammekha, a 66-year-old retiree whose eyes were swollen from crying.
“I love the monarchy because my parents divorced when I was very young. Rama IX was like a father figure to me,” she said, referring to the former king. — AFP
