At King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, mourners dressed in black sat side by side, their eyes pink from crying for the woman whose portraits they cradled in their laps. Some images were framed in gold, others in plastic sleeves, charting the life of Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha from a rosy-cheeked baby to a young royal in red military dress replete with shining badges and ceremonial sword. Later photos showed her posing with one of the dogs she was out training in 2022 when she became gravely ill with heart problems.
Bajrakitiyabha, known by the nickname Princess Bha, had been in hospital ever since, and after nearly four years in a coma, died on Thursday night at the hospital, aged 47. Many analysts considered her a well-suited heir to the throne, though this had never been addressed officially. “I don’t believe she died,” said Sittinee Damaonsondpoan, a Thai language teacher who took the day off work to grieve. “The people of Thailand love her very much.” Damaonsondpoan added that the princess embodied “everything good in Thailand: loyalty, kindness.”
Patients and medical staff passed by in the hospital’s busy central corridor while mourners gathered in an outdoor covered foyer in humid 32°C conditions. Volunteers handed out tissues and bottles of scent. Some sat silently, heads bowed; others embraced. The nation’s grief extended beyond the hospital: news websites switched to black and white, bus ticket collectors wore black ribbon pins, and the number 47 - the princess’s age - sold out at local lotteries around the city, such as that run by Dao Buekaew in the central riverside district of Bang Rak.
Official mourning rites announced by the Royal Palace begin Saturday, when a funeral procession will bring the princess’s coffin from Chulalongkorn Hospital to Piman Rattaya Throne Hall in the Grand Palace. The public will be allowed to participate in the royal bathing rites, pouring water over the princess. Boonruksa Louhavitayarat, another mourner carrying multiple images of Bajrakitiyabha from infancy to adulthood, said, “My heart is very deep[ly] sad.”
In a televised statement, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul called the news “profound sorrow and grief” and said the princess dedicated herself to “creating a society founded upon justice, equality, and human dignity.” He praised her as “a legal scholar, diplomat, and social worker” who inspired Thais to “strive for self-improvement.”