Thailand’s princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, a lawyer and the eldest of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s children, has died at 47, the Bureau of the Royal Household said.She died on Thursday (June 11, 2026) evening at a Bangkok hospital where she had been cared for since falling unconscious due to illness three years ago, according to the statement issued on Friday (June 12, 2026).“This loss is not merely bad news announced to the people, but an immeasurable grief in the hearts of the entire nation,” Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a televised speech. He said the princess was “a pride of Thailand”, and that “her commitment to building a society of kindness, justice, and equality, will forever remain as a moral legacy for the nation, a guiding light for generations of Thais”.A small group of mourners gathered in an atrium at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, where the princess had been treated. Most held framed or laminated photos of her throughout the years.
Peoples hold pictures of Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol in Bangkok, Thailand on June 12, 2026
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Pattamaporn Kaewkityakorn said she had arrived on Thursday (June 11, 2026) and spent the night there to show her support for the princess, unaware that the announcement of her passing would come the following morning.“I know she was sick, but I wished there were a miracle,” she said, her voice trembling. “I was saddened and shocked.” Bajrakitiyabha was active in justice reform efforts and best known for her Kamlangjai, or “Inspire,” project to help rehabilitate incarcerated Thai women ahead of their release.Bajrakitiyabha was hospitalised in December 2022 after falling unconscious while training dogs for an Army exhibition. The palace said she had a mycoplasma infection, a bacterial infection usually associated with pneumonia.Her father's New Year’s greeting card for 2023 showed King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida garbed in somber black, which many Thais saw as confirmation of the gravity of her condition.The princess was born on December 7, 1978, to Vajiralongkorn, who was the crown prince at the time, and his then-wife, Princess Soamsawali. Vajiralongkorn has seven children by three of his four successive wives. Bajrakitiyabha was also known by the royal name Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, used in formal state settings.Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, the youngest of the king’s children, is the presumptive heir because sons take precedence in Thailand's line of succession. But Bajrakitiyabha's experience in public service raised speculation she was set to hold an important role in any future succession, perhaps as regent to a youthful monarch.
