Queen Sirikit, the mother of Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn, has died at the age of 93.
According to the Thai Royal Household Bureau, she passed away peacefully at 21:21 local time (14:21 GMT) on Friday in a Bangkok hospital. The statement noted that the Queen had suffered from several health issues since being admitted in 2019, including a recent blood infection.
For more than sixty years, Queen Sirikit was married to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s longest-reigning monarch, who passed away in 2016. King Vajiralongkorn has instructed the Royal Household Bureau to organise a royal funeral, and her body will lie in state at the Grand Palace’s Dusit Thorne Hall in Bangkok. Members of the royal family will observe a year of mourning.
Queen’s Biography
Born into an aristocratic family, Queen Sirikit met her future husband while studying music in Paris, where her father served as Thai ambassador to France. In a 1980 BBC documentary Soul of a Nation, she recalled their first meeting with humour, saying it was «hate at first sight» because the young King arrived three hours late.
The couple married on April 28, 1950, just a week before King Bhumibol’s coronation in Bangkok. During the 1960s, they represented Thailand abroad, meeting world figures including US President Dwight Eisenhower, Queen Elizabeth II and Elvis Presley. Queen Sirikit became known for her elegance, often appearing on international best-dressed lists.
Seen as a maternal symbol for the country, her birthday, August 12, has been celebrated as Mother’s Day since 1976. Queen Sirikit attended the 2008 funeral of an anti-government protester who died in clashes with police.
After suffering a stroke in 2012, she withdrew from public life. Queen Sirikit is survived by her son, King Vajiralongkorn, and her three daughters.
