Thailand has been in mourning for a couple of months. Ever since the death of Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother was officially announced on October 24, 2025, The Royal Family and members of The Goverment have been dressed in black or wearing armbands on top of their uniforms, and the public was told to avoid bright colors for 90 days. While Royal Mourning periods in Thailand can take up to a year, can a royal death be 'decided' by Palace officials? Or, in other words, can the announcement be delayed for as long, as they deem appropriate? Queen Sirikit's granddaughter, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, suddenly collapsed three years ago, losing consciousness due to what was stated as "a heart condition" and medicine and equipment were being used "to support her heart, lungs & kidneys functions". Ever since 15 December 2022, she has not regained consciousness, with credible, yet unofficial sources, claiming her brain's death due to aunerism causing a subarachnoid haemorrhage. The same sources claim that The Queen Mother had also been kept artificially alive from July 25, 2025, when her son, King Vajiralongkorn cancelled his appearance for his official birthday events, later missing her final Birthday celebrations, on August 12.
The article below offers an insight to those two cases, as officially and unofficially reported, as well as to some of the possible reasons why senior death announcements would be delayed for such a long time. It is based on given information, but personal analysis by the creator doesn't necessary correspond to reality.
It was around 6:20'pm on Wednesday, 14 December 2022, when HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, then aged 44, the eldest daughter of HM King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X), collapsed and lost consciousness. She was training her pet dogs to compete in The Thailand Working Dog Championship, an event organized by the Royal Thai Army, held in Pak Chong district of Nakhon Ratchasima, 250km Northeast of Bangkok. Her consciousness was not regained on the ground and she was transfered to Pak Chong Nana Hospital, before being airlifted to the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in (capital) Bangkok. According to the statement released by the Palace the following day, Princess Bajrakitiyabha passed out due to "a heart problem" and her condition was stabilized before returning back to Bangkok. Her father, King Rama X & stepmother, Queen Suthida, visited her at the hospital several times during the next day while Buddhist religious rites across the nation were held for her recovery. The Princess, a well-skilled fitness enthusiast, diplomat & former Ambassador to Austria (2012-14) was poised high in the succession preferences, as her half - brother, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti (The King's only Royal Son) has reportedly developmental difficulties due to a severe form of autism.
According to Andrew MacGregor Marshall, a Scottish journalist & author, specialized in politics & structutal conflicts in Asia & The Middle East, The Princess's situation was far more serious. 'Palace sources' told him that The Princess was initially thought to have suffered a heart attack, and a CPR was performed on the scene without success, until it was revealed at the provincial hospital that she had had a brain aunerism, "causing a massive subarachnoid haemorrhage". King Vajiralongkorn rushed to his daughter's bedside and in the early hours of Thursday, 15 December (2022), it was decided to bring her back to Bangkok. A medical helicopter HS-BHQ flanked by two military helicopters were tracked by Marshall through a flight monitoring app on real time, landing to Bangkok around 02:15' local time. Even though the princess's condition was already severe, she was transfered to Chulalongkorn hospital by road (instead of flying there by the helicopter). It wasn't until midday of December 15, according to MacGregor Marshall's sources, that the doctors pronounced Bajrakitiyabha brain dead after an 18-hour starvation of oxygen. By The King's orders she was connected to ECMO machine and kept artificially alive.
While the first palace bulletin said Princess Bajrakitiyabha was 'undergoing checks' at Chulalongkorn hospital, a second one, on 19 December, acknowledged that Her Royal Highness was still unconscious, "her heart, lungs and kidneys" supported by medicine and equipment. The ECMO machine is used for ICU patients to oxygenate their blood & circulate it in the body when vital organs of the patient cannot do so. This was able to keep the blood cells alive, but couldn't repair The Princess' damaged brain and heart, which was affected by bacteria, causing her to loose consciousness, according to the third bulletin on January 7, 2023. After that announcement, no new update was given by the palace, and as wishes for a speedy recovery subsided, The Royal Calendar went ahead, with the busy year of 2024 marking The King's auspicious 72nd Birthday held without his eldest daughter's presence. Her mother, HRH Princess Soamsawali - Vajiralongkorn's first cousin & former first wife - was largely incapacitated after a brain haemorrhage in 2019, and hasn't made any public appearance following her daughter's collapse. She is too treated at Chulalongkorn Hospital, where her mother, Princess Bandhu Savali, died in June aged 91.
Bajrakitiyabha's paternal grandmother, HM Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother, an aunt of Soamsawali, was being treated at Chulalongkorn Hospital from September 2019. Her Birthday, August 12, has been celebrated as The 'National Mother's Day' in Thailand. On 25 July, 2025, King Vajiralongkorn cancelled official ceremonies at the Amarin Winitchai Throne Hall on July 28 & 29 to mark his 73rd Birthday, due to "current threats facing the nation" referring to the armed conflict along the Thai-Cambodian border. That same day, July 25, Andrew MacGregor Marshall first reported Queen Sirikit's death, citing 'Palace Sources'. He said she was expected to be kept artificially alive "for some time" after the King's birthday. Vajiralongkorn did not appear in public for more than a month after his birthday presence cancellation, and was represented at his mother's 93rd Birthday ceremony by his (fourth) wife, Queen Suthida. It was the first time he hadn't lead The Birthday celebrations for The Queen Mother, although Their Majesties' car was spotted at Chulalongkorn Hospital the same day (August 12). It was surprisingly, a couple-days later, on August 15, when the first announcement in over 30 months about Princess Bajrakitiyabha was made, saying she was diagnosed with a "severe bloodstream infection"; which "improved" by August 31. The death of Queen Mother Sirikit was announced on 24 October 2025; less than a month later, The King & Queen went on an official visit to China, celebrating 50 years of Thai-Chinese bilateral relations.
Mourning the death of a senior member of Thai Royal Family has strict implications to the country's public life & entertainment sector. Following the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the longest-reigned Monarch in Thailand's history, on 13 October 2016, one year of National Mourning was declared for the 'Father of the Nation', although strict lockdown of entertainment businesses & ban on outdoors parties was implemented for one month. King Vajiralongkorn, then Crown Prince of Thailand requested to suspend his accession to the throne giving him time to mourn his father and prepare before accepting the invitation of The Privy Council to succeed the throne on December 1 (his succession then retroactively proclaimed to have occured on October 13). Bhumibol was cremated on 26 October 2017, in State Funeral, with 5 days of elaborate Royal ceremonies; the mourning officially ending October 30. The Royal Funeral of his wife, Queen Sirikit, is expected to take the same amount of time, although the national mourning has much less affected the public & entertainment life, limiting instead to flags flying at half mast for 30 days and The Royal Family and government officials wearing black armbands for a year. Religious rites & merit-making ceremonies are held daily for the first 100 days of each royal death while the body is usually lying-in-repose until the Cremation. The latter usually takes place from seven to twelve months after death, as the Royal Crematorium at Sanam Luang square takes time to be built.
Have there been delays in Royal death announcements? This question is not easy to answer, giving the restriction of access to information about The Royal Family of Thailand, and the harsh implications of violating the anti-defamation law (article 112 of the Thai Constitution), that could lead up to 15 years of imprisonment for posting inappropriate, unverified, or defamatory context about The King or members of the Royal Family. However, specialists outside the country, based on 'inner sources' suggest a cover up of serious illnesses and deaths amid senior royal family members have been happening frequently. Andrew MacGregor Marshall, for instance, was the first credible journalist to report the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on October 13, 2016 at 17:01' (Thai time), before The Royal Household Bureau officially announced it at 18:45, as having occured at 15:52'. Apart from the announcement itself, he had also claimed that the late king, who had been treated at Siriraj hospital with age-related infections from late 2014, had been comatose in the final months of his life and kept on life support before the machines were switched off. His Platinum Jubilee, celebrating his 70 years on the throne in June 2016 took place without his presence, a few days after he underwent a heart surgery, his last photo having been released in December 2015. King Bhumibol's sister, Princess Galyani Vadhana's death was announced on 2 January 2008, but MacGregor Marshall claims - based on anonymous palace sources - it occured in December 2007, and the announcement was delayed to not disrupt official new year's celebrations.
Let us now assume that Andrew MacGregor Marshall's sources are trustworthy, and check the cases of Princess Bajrakitiyabha and Queen Sirikit, as if they are logically tangible, based on undeniable facts.
It's 14 December 2022. The eldest daughter of The King - & potential heiress to the throne - suddenly collapses at a remote village far away from the capital. Her heartbeat stops, she doesn't respond to CPR. Everyone is alerted, thinks of: 1) how to save her, 2) how to tell the King, 3) how to Not leak it outside. An ambulance arrives within minutes, but no one can revive her and she is transferred to local hospital. The King is summoned within hours, and lands to Pak Chong Nana hospital with the best doctors. It is too late, and their unscheduled flight has been noticed by independent sources. The King breaks down, but cannot accept that his favorite daughter is gone. He orders to exhaust all efforts to keep her alive. She is intubated and flown to Bangkok past midnight; the ambulance & two military helicopters don't fill arrival & departure locations to maintain secrecy. They land at 2:15'am at Bangkok hospital, then she is transferred to Chulalongkorn hospital by road. This could only be understood as miscalculation: they thought one hospital would be sufficient, but then understood it wouldn't. To avoid the spread of already increased rumors, they transported Bajrakitiyabha by road, understanding she could no longer be revived. There they connected her to ECMO to keep some of her bodily functions alive, but having no choice but declare her brain dead on 15 December 2022. Her death announcement in early 2023, was widely expected as a natural outcome. The fact that it wasn't announced, as well as no further changes to her condition puts the whole scenario under question, but keeping the palace's narrative untrustworthy.
Then - 25 July 2025. Queen Mother Sirikit dies, aged 92. Her body is connected to ECMO, in order to keep her alive until her 93rd Birthday (on August 12). Only the day before, the long time border dispute with Cambodia leads up to deadly clashes: the high opportunity for The Royal Household Officials to give an explanation of King Vajiralongkorn's sudden cancellation of birthday ceremonies. The King's Birthday on July 28, is still celebrated nationwide through religious & government ceremonies, release of spared animals, books of well-wishes to the public, decorations & fireworks. Everything is festive, not reflecting the moods of neither the battlefield, nor the King, coming in terms with his mother's death. The same is repeated with the nationwide celebrations of The Mother's Day - "93rd Birthday" of Queen Sirikit, The Queen Mother. The King is deputised by The Queen at the religious ceremony, while Sirikit's daughters & grandchildren, festively dressed, attend a week of tributes & exhibitions, honoring their matriarch. This occurs just two weeks after they were supposedly told their (grand)Mother had no chances to survive, which comes to some conflict with the claimed sources, as well as The King & Queen's visit of The Queen Mother on the day of her birthday. However, given that Vajiralongkorn had indeed missed appearances until August 30 (the funeral of a former Prime Minister) as well as that he was relatively easy-going with the historic state visit to China less than a month after his mother's death announcement - which had not been the case with his father's death - can be seen as rather trustworthy.
So, if we consider the abovementioned chains of events as sufficiently consequential & valid, why has the death of The Queen Mother and the real situation of her granddaughter been concealed for so long?
At first for Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the worst should have been announced after The New Year of 2023, 15 years after the same happened with her elderly great-aunt. The fact that it wasn't and keeping on with MacGregor Marshall's sources, can be explained by two factors: paternal denial & regime's exploitation. Even though knowing that he can't bring his favorite daughter back, King Vajiralongkorn is yet in denial of her loss, and cannot but keep her body alive by any means. Furthermore, The Thai government seeks to promote The Monarchy's popularity in times of crisis. It was hence, along with The Royal Household Bureau, easier to plan a year of grand celebrations for The King's 72nd Birthday, rather than months of mourning, forcing restrictions on Thailand's financial capital, shortly after it was harshly hit by Covid pandemic. Nevertheless, forging royalist sentiment at times of external crises, such as The Birthday celebrations of the artificially alive Queen Mother, as well as prayers for comatose Bajrakitiyabha's "bloodstream infection" in August past year, could prompt a surge in national unity. Even the Princess's military promotion from chief-of-staff of the Royal Guards under the Royal Security Command with the rank of general, to deputy commander of the Royal Security Command with the rank of senior General, as announced by The Royal Gazette on Wednesday, 20 August, 2025, could make a difference into the people's thoughts, bringing about anticipation that she is indeed in high chances of recovery.
Regarding Queen Sirikit The Queen Mother, the explanation is more easily understandable. Queen Sirikit had been senile since 2012, to this extend that she didn't attend the funeral of her husband in public. However, she has always been a nodal point to the nation's pride, culture, textile, fashion and maternity. Her birthday, quite simply, was both a National Holiday and The Mother's Day. Hence, it couldn't be overshadowed by mourning, even if tributary offerings would steer more of the national unity in need. The other, most important factor, is the ongoing conflict in The Thai-Cambodian border. Regardless of how much it was the pretext for The King to cancel much of his Birthday celebrations, it posed a serious threat to Thailand's institutional stability, combined with the government's crisis, which led to the removal of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra by The Constitutional Court (August 29). In such a time of troubled waters, there was not and could not be any stable structure that could impose and endure the proper mourning for 'The Mother of The Nation'. Whereas a new government took over from September and the border crisis subsided, it still remains unexplainable why October 24, 2025 was chosen as a date to announce Queen Mother Sirikit's death. In Royal calendar it was after the death days of her husband (October 13) & of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, on October 23), and King Rama VIII's 100th birth anniversary (September 20). But it was also shortly before the seasonal change of Robes of The Emerald Buddha, to which The King took part on November 6. This question remains open.
Regardless of the motives of The King, officials from the Bureau of The Royal Household and the Thai Government, a consequential line of the Royal deaths concealment in The Chakri Dynasty can be traced by the abovementioned analysis. Given Andrew MacGregor Marshall's inner sources, the final prove of his report about Queen Mother Sirikit and not yet a clear overturn in the known situation of the Princess Bajrakitiyabha, it is easy to make the following conclusions. 1) The Thai Royal Household Bureau does carefully orchestrate its official bulletins, giving room for both real facts and fiction. 2) The King faces a series of challenges, and in an attempt to stabilise his emotional wellbeing and show off a positive picture outside, he could be led into a reversed natural order, letting his long-ailing mother go before his daughter. 3) The government of Thailand, essentially supported by a royalist military base, cannot but seek to implement the best for national stability, in coordination with guidelines by The Bureau on royal issues of serious concern. The abovementioned analysis is purely based on extra information given by some internal sources, which for the understandable reasons, cannot be known. It is definitely in decline from the official narrative, and there is no guarantee that any of them is based on true events. However, given the complex situation of The Thai Monarchy's nowadays' structure, and the necessity of all serious royalist media to question the truth when rumors of a revered former Queen Consort's death are circulating online without an answer, have led me to analyse this very delicate matter here; hopefully giving a sufficient enough explanation, for something that to my mind, should be the royal paradox of the year. If not way beyond that, as long as the truth about Princess Bajrakitiyabha is yet a mystery.
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