BANGKOK — Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, a symbol of grace, charity, and royal influence who helped modernize the image of the Thai monarchy after World War II, has died at the age of 93, the Royal Household Bureau announced Saturday.
Sirikit had largely withdrawn from public life since suffering a stroke in 2012.
She was the wife of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s longest-reigning monarch, who ruled for 70 years until his death in 2016. Throughout his reign, she was a constant presence by his side, earning admiration for her humanitarian work and timeless elegance.
During state visits abroad, she captivated the world’s media with her poise and fashion. In 1960, during a U.S. tour that included a state dinner at the White House, Time magazine described her as “svelte” and “archfeminist,” while France’s L’Aurore called her “ravishing.”
Born Sirikit Kitiyakara in 1932, the same year Thailand shifted from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, she was the daughter of Thailand’s ambassador to France. While studying in Paris, she met the young Bhumibol, who was then living in Switzerland. “It was hate at first sight,” she once joked in a BBC interview, before admitting that “then it was love.”
The two became engaged in 1949 and married a year later, when she was 17. Known for her impeccable taste, Sirikit collaborated with French designer Pierre Balmain to create elegant gowns using Thai silk. Her advocacy for traditional weaving helped revive Thailand’s silk industry and promote it on the global stage.
For more than four decades, she traveled with King Bhumibol across rural Thailand to support development programs for the poor, their visits frequently broadcast nationwide. In 1956, she briefly served as regent when the king entered a Buddhist monastery for two weeks, a rite of passage in Thai culture.
In 1976, her birthday, August 12, was declared Mother’s Day and a national holiday, cementing her image as the “mother of the nation.”
Her son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, known as Rama X, ascended the throne after Bhumibol’s death. Upon his coronation in 2019, Sirikit received the formal title of Queen Mother.
Although the monarchy is officially above politics, Sirikit occasionally took positions that were seen as political. In 1998, she publicly urged Thais to unite behind then-Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, a move that weakened the opposition. Later, she was linked to the royalist People’s Alliance for Democracy, which helped topple governments allied with former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
In 2008, she attended the funeral of a PAD protester killed in clashes with police, signaling sympathy for the group’s cause.
To many Thais, Queen Mother Sirikit will be remembered not for her rare political gestures but for her compassion, cultural influence, and lifelong devotion to public service.
She is survived by her son, King Vajiralongkorn, and her three daughters.
