Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha Dies at 47 After Prolonged Coma

Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, the eldest child of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, died on Thursday at the age of 47, the royal palace announced on Friday. The princess had been in a coma since December 2022 after losing consciousness due to a heart condition while traveling in Nakhon Ratchasima and was airlifted to Bangkok for treatment. The palace statement said her condition deteriorated because of an intra-abdominal infection, colitis, low blood pressure, arrhythmias and blood-clotting disorders.

Born on Dec. 7, 1978, to the then Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and Princess Soamsawali, Bajrakitiyabha held several public roles. She earned a law doctorate from Cornell University and served as an attorney in the Thai Office of the Attorney-General from 2006 to 2011. From 2012 to 2014 she was ambassador to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia, and later returned to the attorney-general’s office. She founded a charity for female prisoners, especially those who were pregnant, and in 2017 was named a United Nations goodwill ambassador for the rule of law in Southeast Asia. In 2021 she transferred to the army, receiving the rank of general and serving as chief of staff of the Royal Security Command.

The princess was one of three of the king’s children who hold formal titles and are constitutionally eligible for the throne. Following her death, the palace will conduct royal funeral rites and the government is expected to declare a period of national mourning.