A 47-year-old Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati died on Thursday, June 11, at a hospital in Bangkok.
According to the Bureau of the Royal Household statement Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol who is also popularly known as “Princess Bha,” had been hospitalized since December 2022 after she fell unconscious while training dogs. “She had a mycoplasma infection,” the palace added.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha was a first grandchild of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit and the oldest child of King Vajiralongkorn. Princess Bajrakitiyabha is the only one born child of King Vajiralongkorn and his first wife Princess Soamsawali.
The eldest child of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, was in a coma for three years.
Princess Bha was a lawyer and advocate for the rights of incarcerated women and considered as one of the most visible members of the Thai royal family.
After passing a master’s degree in law at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York of the USA Princess Bajrakitiyabha also earned a doctorate at Cornell University.
Born on December 7, 1978 the princess was an eldest daughter of 73-year-old Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn and his then-wife Princess Soamsawali, 68.
She had also worked at the Thai Mission to the United Nations in New York City before returning to Thailand to serve as a public prosecutor.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha had also served as Thailand’s Ambassador to Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia from 2012 to 2014. She also became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in 2017.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha had also played a key role in the U.N. adopting the “Bangkok Rules,” also known as the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders, in 2010. She was also an Honorary U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for Women who had been campaigning for justice reform, focusing on efforts to rehabilitate incarcerated women.
Because of her charismatic career, Princess Bajrakitiyabha was seen as a potential heir to Thailand’s Crown as Thailand had constitutional regulations amended in 1974 to allow for a female ruler.
The princess is survived by her parents and one sister and five brothers from her father’s later marriages.
