Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, a revered figure who brought grace, glamour, and compassion to the nation’s monarchy for more than seven decades, has died at the age of 93, the Royal Household Bureau announced on Saturday.
The palace said Sirikit passed away late Friday after developing a bloodstream infection on October 17. She had been hospitalized since 2019 due to multiple illnesses and had largely withdrawn from public life following a stroke in 2012.
A one-year mourning period has been declared for members of the royal family and household, while public offices will fly flags at half-mast for a month.
The government has also urged officials to observe mourning for a year and requested that entertainment venues suspend festivities for 30 days.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cancelled his planned attendance at the ASEAN and APEC summits in Malaysia and South Korea, citing the Queen Mother’s death.
He will, however, briefly travel to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to sign a Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire deal before returning to Thailand for the mourning period.
Born Sirikit Kitiyakara in 1932, the same year Thailand transitioned to a constitutional monarchy, she was the daughter of Thailand’s ambassador to France and was educated in Paris, where she met her future husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The couple married in 1950 when Sirikit was 17, and she soon became an international icon.
Known for her elegance and poise, Sirikit collaborated with French couturier Pierre Balmain to design dazzling Thai silk gowns that graced global stages. Her fashion sense earned praise from international media, Time magazine once called her “svelte” and “archfeminist,” while France’s L’Aurore described her as “ravishing.”
At home, she and King Bhumibol won deep affection through their tireless charity and rural development work. Together, they spent decades visiting villages to promote education, healthcare, and traditional crafts.
Sirikit’s advocacy for Thai silk helped revitalize the country’s weaving industry and cultural identity.
In 1956, Sirikit briefly served as regent while her husband entered a monastery, a common Buddhist rite of passage for Thai men. In 1976, her birthday, August 12, was declared Mother’s Day, cementing her image as the nation’s maternal figure.
Though the Thai monarchy is officially apolitical, Sirikit occasionally made statements or gestures that carried political weight. In 1998, she publicly urged national unity behind then-Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai.
A decade later, she was linked to the royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose protests helped topple a government allied with former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Her attendance at a PAD protester’s funeral in 2008 was widely interpreted as royal endorsement.
For most Thais, however, Queen Mother Sirikit will be remembered for her compassion, elegance, and lifelong devotion to charitable causes.
Her passing marks the end of an era that bridged modern Thailand’s transformation under her late husband, King Bhumibol, the country’s longest-reigning monarch.
Outside Chulalongkorn Hospital, where she died, hundreds of mourners dressed in black gathered to pay their respects. “When I learned the news, my world stopped,” said Maneenat Laowalert, 67. “I remembered all that Her Majesty has done for us. She was like a mother to the nation.”
Sirikit is survived by her son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X), and three daughters.
Her death leaves a profound void in Thailand’s monarchy, one she helped shape with beauty, dignity, and enduring love for her people.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
