Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha died on Thursday, June 11, after more than three years in a coma. She was 47.
“The Bureau of the Royal Household announced on 12 June 2026 that Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendiradebyavati Kromluangrajasarinisiribajra Mahavajrarajadhita passed away peacefully at 19:48 hr on 11 June 2026 at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok,” the Thai government said in a statement on Friday, June 12.
Bajrakitiyabha had been in a coma since December 2022 when she fell unconscious during a public engagement.
The Thai government said she lost “consciousness because of a heart condition.”
“In April 2026, doctors detected an infection in the abdomen caused by inflammation of the large intestine. This made Her Royal Highness’s condition unstable, with low blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat and abnormalities in blood clotting,” Friday’s statement said. “Although the medical team provided treatment for Her Royal Highness to the best of its ability, Her Royal Highness’s condition deteriorated, and the princess passed away peacefully on 11 June 2026 at the age of 47.”
Bajrakitiyabha was the eldest daughter of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, whom he shared with his first wife, Princess Soamsawali. (They divorced in 1991.)
The princess studied law at Thammasat University in Bangkok before receiving a master’s degree in law at Cornell University in New York.
She briefly worked at the Thai Mission to the U.N. in New York City and served as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria from 2012 to 2014.
Bajrakitiyabha was passionate about prison reform and the rehabilitation of female convicts.
“This loss is not merely bad news announced to the people but an immeasurable grief in the hearts of the entire nation,” Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said, per the Associated Press.
Charnvirakul 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.”
King Maha Vajiralongkorn has seven children in total. His four sons with his second wife, Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, were stripped of their royal titles in 1996 and live in the U.S. with their mother. Vajiralongkorn and Sujarinee’s only daughter, Princess Sirivannavari, 39, remains in the royal line of succession. His youngest son, Prince Dipangkorn, 21, whom he shares with his third wife, Srirasmi Suwadee, is heir presumptive to the throne due to Thai custom that dictates a male heir.
