Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, Influential Style Icon, Dies Aged 93

World 09:30 AM - 2025-10-25

Thailand's Queen Sirikit waves to people during her arrival in Chinatown for Lunar New Year celebrations in Bangkok 23 January 2012.

Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, a figure renowned for her elegance, charitable work, and lasting influence on Thai culture, has passed away aged 93, the Royal Household Bureau announced on Saturday.

Sirikit had largely withdrawn from public life following a stroke in 2012. According to the palace, she had been hospitalised since 2019 due to several health conditions and developed a bloodstream infection on 17 October before passing away late on Friday.

A one-year mourning period has been declared for members of the royal family and household. Government offices will fly flags at half-mast for one month, and officials have been instructed to observe mourning for one year. Entertainment venues across the country have been asked to suspend activities for a month.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul cancelled planned trips to the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur and the APEC Summit in South Korea next week in light of the Queen Mother’s death. He stated he would travel briefly to Malaysia on Sunday to sign a ceasefire agreement with Cambodia before returning to Thailand.

Style Icon Who Charmed the World

Queen Sirikit was married to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s longest-reigning monarch, who ruled for 70 years from 1946. She stood beside him for much of his reign, earning widespread affection at home through her charitable initiatives and captivating audiences abroad with her grace and fashion sense.

During a 1960 visit to the United States, which included a state dinner at the White House, Time magazine described her as “svelte” and an “archfeminist,” while France’s L’Aurore called her “ravishing.”

Born in 1932, the same year Thailand transitioned from absolute to constitutional monarchy, Sirikit Kitiyakara was the daughter of the Thai ambassador to France. While studying music and languages in Paris, she met Bhumibol, who had spent part of his youth in Switzerland.

“It was hate at first sight,” she recalled in a BBC documentary, noting that he arrived late to their first meeting. “Then it was love.” The couple became engaged in 1949 and married the following year, when she was 17.

A devoted supporter of Thai culture, Sirikit collaborated with French couturier Pierre Balmain to create striking ensembles made from Thai silk. Her patronage helped revive and preserve traditional weaving practices, revitalising the country’s silk industry.

Champion of Rural Development

For more than four decades, the Queen Mother accompanied King Bhumibol on visits to remote villages across Thailand, promoting development projects and improving livelihoods for rural communities. Their joint activities were regularly broadcast nationwide.

In 1956, she briefly served as regent while the King spent two weeks in a Buddhist temple, undertaking a rite of passage common among Thai men.

Her birthday, 12 August, was designated Thailand’s Mother’s Day in 1976, and continues to be celebrated as a national holiday.

After King Bhumibol’s passing in 2016, their only son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X), ascended the throne. Upon his coronation in 2019, Sirikit was formally given the title of Queen Mother.

A Figure of Influence

Though Thailand’s monarchy is officially above politics, the Queen Mother occasionally played an influential role in national affairs. In 1998, she used her birthday speech to call for unity behind then-Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, undermining opposition efforts to trigger a no-confidence vote.

Later, she became associated with the royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose protests contributed to the downfall of governments aligned with former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. In 2008, her attendance at the funeral of a PAD protester killed in clashes with police was widely seen as a gesture of royal sympathy for the movement.

Despite such controversies, for many Thais, Sirikit remains a symbol of compassion, dignity, and maternal virtue. Her passing will be marked with deep reverence in a nation where any criticism of the monarchy is prohibited under strict lese-majeste laws, which impose prison sentences for insulting royal figures — including those deceased.

On Saturday, mourners dressed in black gathered outside Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital, where the Queen Mother passed away.

“When I heard the news, my world stopped,” said Maneenat Laowalert, a 67-year-old Bangkok resident. “I thought of all the things Her Majesty has done for us.”

Queen Mother Sirikit is survived by her son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and three daughters.

Source: Reuters



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