Bangkok (Web Desk): Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, renowned for her grace, charitable spirit, and pivotal role in revitalizing the image of the Thai monarchy, has passed away at the age of 93, according to a statement from the Royal Household Bureau on Saturday.
The Queen Mother, who had largely retreated from the public eye since suffering a stroke in 2012, had been under medical care since 2019 for multiple health conditions. Officials said she developed a bloodstream infection on October 17 and died late Friday night.
Following her death, the royal family and household have entered a year-long mourning period. Government offices will lower flags to half-mast for one month, and public servants have been asked to observe mourning for twelve months. Entertainment venues nationwide have been instructed to suspend festive activities for a month.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cancelled his upcoming trips to the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur and the APEC summit in South Korea in light of the Queen Mother’s passing. He stated he would still visit Malaysia on Sunday to sign a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia before returning home immediately afterward.
Born in 1932, the year Thailand adopted a constitutional monarchy, Sirikit Kitiyakara was the daughter of the Thai ambassador to France. She met the future King Bhumibol Adulyadej while studying music and languages in Paris. In a BBC documentary, she once humorously recalled that their first meeting “was hate at first sight” because he arrived late, but love followed soon after. They became engaged in 1949 and married a year later when she was 17.
Known for her timeless elegance, Sirikit worked closely with French couturier Pierre Balmain, using Thai silk to create striking ensembles that later helped restore global attention to Thailand’s traditional weaving industry. Her refined fashion sense and poise earned her admiration around the world, with Time magazine once describing her as “svelte” and “archfeminist,” while French daily L’Aurore called her “ravishing.”
Throughout her husband’s seven-decade reign, Sirikit played an active role in promoting rural development, accompanying the King to remote villages and supporting welfare projects aimed at improving the lives of Thailand’s poor. Her presence on televised royal programs made her a familiar and beloved figure across the country.
She briefly assumed the role of regent in 1956 when King Bhumibol entered a monastery to fulfill a traditional Buddhist ordination. Later, in 1976, her birthday on August 12 was declared Thailand’s Mother’s Day, a national holiday celebrating her maternal influence.
Sirikit’s involvement occasionally extended into political matters, despite the monarchy’s constitutional stance of neutrality. In 1998, she used her birthday address to call for unity behind then–Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, effectively weakening an opposition move to trigger new elections.
Years later, she was perceived as sympathetic to the royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy, whose street protests helped bring down governments aligned with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Her attendance at the 2008 funeral of a PAD protester further signaled royal endorsement of the movement’s cause.
To millions of Thais, Sirikit remains a figure of deep affection—revered as a symbol of compassion, dignity, and national motherhood. In a country where the monarchy commands profound reverence and legal protection from criticism, her death marks a moment of collective sorrow.
Mourners dressed in black gathered outside Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital on Saturday, where she passed away. “When I heard the news, everything stopped,” said 67-year-old Bangkok resident Maneenat Laowalert. “I remembered all the things Her Majesty had done for the people.”
Queen Mother Sirikit is survived by her only son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X, and three daughters.