Bangkok – Thai princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, lawyer and the eldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, has died at the age of 47, the Bureau of the Royal Household said.
He died on Thursday evening at a Bangkok hospital where he had been receiving care since collapsing from an illness three years ago, according to a statement issued on Friday.
“This loss is not just bad news announced to the people, but an immeasurable sorrow in the hearts of the entire nation,” Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a televised address. He said the princess is “the pride of Thailand,” and that “her dedication to building a society of kindness, justice, and equality, will forever remain as a moral legacy to the nation, a guiding light for generations of Thais.”
He will lie in state at the Grand Palace in Bangkok and his funeral will be held “with the utmost respect in accordance with royal traditions,” the office said in a statement, according to French news agency AFP.
The office said in May that his condition had worsened and that medical equipment and drugs were supporting the functioning of the lungs and kidneys, AFP reported.
A group of mourners gathered at the scene of the incident at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital where the princess was being treated. Many held framed or illuminated photographs of him throughout the years.
Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP via Getty Images
Pattamaporn Kaewkityakorn said he arrived on Thursday and spent the night there to show his support for the princess, not knowing that the announcement of her passing would come the next morning.
“I know he was sick, but I was hoping for a miracle,” he said with a trembling voice. “I was saddened and shocked.”
Bajrakitiyabha has been active in justice reform efforts and is best known for her Kamlangjai, or “Inspire” project to help rehabilitate Thai women imprisoned before their release.
Bajrakitiyabha was hospitalized in December 2022 after collapsing while training dogs at a military parade. The palace said he had mycoplasma, a bacterial infection that often accompanies pneumonia.
His father’s New Year’s greeting card for 2023 showed King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida dressed in all black, which many Thais saw as confirming the gravity of his situation.
The princess was born on Dec. 7, 1978 to Vajiralongkorn, then crown prince, and his then wife, Princess Soamsawali. Vajiralongkorn has seven children by three of his four wives in succession. Bajrakitiyabha was also known by the royal name Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, which is used for official royal settings.
Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, the youngest of the king’s children, is the heir presumptive because sons take first place in Thailand’s line of succession. But Bajrakitiyabha’s experience in public service raised speculation that he would play a key role in any future succession, perhaps as a young king.
Bajrakitiyabha studied law at Thammasat University and then went to Cornell University in New York state, where he received a master’s degree in law in 2002. He received his doctorate from Cornell in 2005 with a dissertation on the protection of defendant’s rights. Scholarships to Cornell Law School and a legal exchange program between Thailand and Cornell were later established in his name.
After working briefly at the Thai Mission to the UN in New York City, he returned home and worked as a public prosecutor. He renewed his diplomatic career by being appointed Thailand’s ambassador to Austria from 2012 to 2014 before returning to his home country to focus on criminal justice issues. In 2017, he was appointed as a good ambassador for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
In addition to working for the rehabilitation of female prisoners, she has participated in other projects including a campaign to improve the living conditions of female prisoners and promoting efforts to end violence against women as an honorary UN ambassador for women. Her efforts led to the UN General Assembly adopting the “Bangkok Rules” regarding the care and conditions of female prisoners.
“Society cannot grow if there is instability and injustice,” Bajrakitiyabha said in an interview with the Associated Press in 2013.
“Without the law, without a good justice system, there is always chaos,” he said. “I think the law is the most important pillar for development, economic growth, and human rights.”
Bajrakitiyabha is survived by her parents and siblings.
