Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who had been in a coma for more than three years, has died, the royal household has announced. She was 47.
She collapsed in December 2022 while exercising her dogs. Her doctors attributed it to a severely irregular heartbeat, caused by a mycoplasma infection in her heart.
With her death, the Thai royal family has lost one of its most prominent members and a figure widely viewed as potentially significant to the country’s future royal succession.
A life in law and public service
Princess Bajrakitiyabha was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn’s seven children. She was born on December 7, 1978, to the king’s first wife and cousin, Princess Soamsawali.
“The medical team provided the closest and most intensive care possible, but her condition continued to decline progressively,” the palace said in a statement, adding that she died on Thursday evening at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha trained as a lawyer and earned two postgraduate degrees from Cornell University in the United States.
She worked at Thailand’s mission to the United Nations in New York before returning home to serve in the Attorney General’s Office.
Advocate for prison reform
From 2012 to 2014, Princess Bajrakitiyabha served as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria, where she developed close ties with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
She became a vocal advocate for penal reform, focusing particularly on women in prison and the challenges facing vulnerable inmates.
Thailand has one of the world’s highest female prison populations, and the princess frequently highlighted concerns over harsh sentences for relatively minor drug offences.
Following her return to Thailand, she was appointed UNODC Ambassador for the Rule of Law in Southeast Asia and continued campaigning for criminal justice reform.
A key figure in the royal family
In 2021, King Vajiralongkorn appointed Princess Bajrakitiyabha chief of staff of his private bodyguard unit, granting her the rank of general.
She was also known for her enthusiasm for fitness and regularly participated in long-distance running events.
Her achievements and apparent closeness to the king led many observers to view her as a potentially important figure in the future of Thailand’s monarchy.
Succession questions remain
King Vajiralongkorn, 73, has not formally named an heir to the throne.
While Thai tradition favours a male successor, a constitutional amendment introduced in 1974 allows a woman to inherit the throne.
The king has five sons, though four were disowned in 1996 and have lived in the United States since then with their mother.
His youngest son, Prince Dipangkorn, is generally regarded as the presumed heir, although questions have been raised about his ability to fulfil the role.
For many royalists, Princess Bajrakitiyabha was seen as a possible future queen or regent.
Her death leaves questions surrounding the future succession unresolved, though Thailand’s strict lese majeste laws severely limit public discussion of the monarchy and succession matters.
Source: BBC
Also read: Tragedy in Cyprus: Homeless woman dies alone holding food voucher
For more videos and updates, check out our YouTube channel
