Thai king's eldest daughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, dies aged 47 after almost four years in coma
Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the 47-year-old eldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn and a potential successor to the throne, died on Thursday evening following multiple infections and organ failures, the royal palace announced.
A long battle with illness
Princess Bajrakitiyabha collapsed in December 2022 while exercising with her dogs in Nakhon Ratchasima, suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. She was flown to Bangkok and remained in a coma at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital for more than three years. In May the palace disclosed that she had developed an intra-abdominal infection that affected multiple organs, causing low blood pressure, arrhythmias and blood clotting. Her condition worsened progressively, and on Thursday evening she died.
She passed away peacefully.
A life of public service
Born on December 7, 1978, to then-Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and Princess Soamsawali, the princess earned a doctorate in law from Cornell University. Between 2006 and 2011 she worked as an attorney in the Thai Office of the Attorney-General and later became a diplomat, serving as ambassador to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia from 2012 to 2014. She took on roles at the United Nations, becoming a goodwill ambassador for the rule of law in Southeast Asia, and founded a charity that campaigned for the rights of pregnant female inmates. In 2021 she transferred to the army, attaining the rank of general and serving as chief of staff in the Royal Security Command.
- Born as the first child of then-Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and Princess Soamsawali.
- Began working as an attorney at the Thai Office of the Attorney-General.
- Appointed Thailand's ambassador to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia.
- Named UN goodwill ambassador for the rule of law in Southeast Asia.
- Transferred to the army with the rank of general and served as chief of staff in the Royal Security Command.
- Collapsed during dog training in Nakhon Ratchasima; hospitalized with a heart condition and fell into a coma.
- Health severely deteriorated due to multiple infections, low blood pressure and organ failure.
- Died at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok.
Succession questions linger
Princess Bajrakitiyabha was one of the king's three children who hold formal titles and were eligible for the throne under the constitution. King Vajiralongkorn, 73, has seven children from four marriages but has never publicly named an heir, and some analysts had considered her a possible candidate to become Thailand's first ruling queen because of her pedigree and scandal-free image. The succession rules favour men, though the privy council may appoint a princess if no successor is designated. Her death removes a figure who many royal supporters viewed as a force to restore respect to the monarchy amid growing youth disillusionment and street protests against the lèse-majesté law.
She was the hope that could carry the royal family into the future.
Royal funeral and mourning
The palace said the princess's body would be moved to the Throne Hall in the Grand Palace, where the public can pay their respects. Funeral rites are to be conducted with the highest royal honours, and the government is expected to declare a period of national mourning. The death comes eight months after that of the queen mother, Sirikit, in October 2025.
