She is said to be clinically dead
Who is the crashed Thai princess Bajrakitiyabha?
On Wednesday, Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest daughter of King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, collapsed while out walking her dogs. There is uncertainty about her state of health.
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In Thailand, people are praying for the recovery of Princess Bajrakitiyabha.
Berit-Silja GründlersEditor People
Thailand’s Princess Bajrakitiyabha (44) suffered a massive stroke on Wednesday. She appeared at an army dog show about a two-hour drive northeast of Bangkok – and collapsed while training with her animals. Since then, the fate of the daughter of the reigning King Rama X (70) has been uncertain.
Scottish journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall (51), who is usually well informed about what is happening at the Thai court, reports that the first in line to the throne is already dead but is being kept alive artificially. This in order not to have to declare national mourning during the main tourist season. Marshall has since released more information about why the princess is in such poor condition: Bajrakitiyabha had a brain aneurysm that ruptured, the journalist quoted the treating physicians from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital as saying. “Not even the best neurosurgeons in the world could have saved her life,” Marshall continues.
People are praying for the princess’ health
The palace has announced to Thai media that Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, the princess’s full name, is being treated at the hospital. In the evening after the incident in Thailand became public, people prayed on the streets of Bangkok for the health of the king’s daughter.
More about the Thai royal family
Rama X’s daughter was born in Bangkok’s Dusit Palace in 1978 as the first child of then-heir apparent Vajiralongkorn. Her mother Soamsawali (65) is the first wife and cousin of the current king. The couple divorced in 1991.
Doctor, activist and chief of staff
Princess Bajrakitiyabha studied law and international relations in Thailand and received her doctorate in law from Cornell Law School in New York in 2005. She then worked for around ten years in Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia as the permanent representative of the UN. In 2014, the princess returned to her homeland, where she worked first as a prosecutor and later as chief of staff of the royal security staff. She held this position until her collapse.
The Thai royal also launched the “Kamlangjai” project, which works to reintegrate delinquent women after imprisonment. Bajrakitiyabha also campaigns for better prison conditions for pregnant women in Thai prisons. She is co-founder and initiator of the “Bangkok Rules”, a UN charter with 70 rules for dealing with female prisoners and women with suspended sentences.
No chance for the Thai throne
Almost nothing is known about the princess’ private life. Just that she owns several dogs. She should not be married and have no children. If Bajrakitiyabha recovers from the severe seizure, she still has little chance of becoming Queen of Thailand, even though she is Rama X’s firstborn. But her father wants a male heir to the throne. A wish that will be difficult to come true. His only son Prince Dipangkorn (17), who goes to school in Germany, is said to be autistic and unable to accept his inheritance, as a palace employee once said of “Bild”.
