Thai princess dies at 47 after 3 years in hospital

Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, the king’s eldest daughter, has died at the age of 47, after spending more than three years in the hospital following a sudden illness.

The royal palace announced her demise via a statement on Friday, June 12, 2026.

The Bureau of the Royal Household said Bajrakitiyabha was suffering from an abdominal infection and “her condition continued to worsen” until she “passed away peacefully” on Thursday evening.

The palace stated that the late princess will lie in state at the Grand Palace in Bangkok and her funeral will be held “with the highest honours according to royal tradition”.

Known in Thailand as “Princess Bha”, the only child from King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s first marriage had been in hospital since falling ill suddenly in December 2022.

The Bureau of the Royal Household said in May that her condition had deteriorated and she was relying on medical devices to support her lung and kidney functions, as well as medication.

Bajrakitiyabha was the only child of King Vajiralongkorn’s marriage to Princess Soamsawali.

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A trained prosecutor and diplomat, Bajrakitiyabha was educated in Britain, Thailand and the United States, earning a law degree from Cornell University and serving for a time as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria.

The princess told a campus audience about her professional background during a 2012 visit to the US law school.

“I ask myself now, what am I exactly? A prosecutor? A criminal lawyer? A diplomat? The answer is everything all together. I say I am a hybrid,” she said, according to the Cornell Chronicle.

Queen Sirikit, the mother of the king, died in October at the age of 93.

Strict rules govern what can and cannot be said about the Thai royal family, who are protected from criticism by lese-majeste laws that carry prison sentences of up to 15 years per charge.