Thailand’s former Queen Sirikit, who died Friday aged 93, won global headlines for her glamour during decades alongside her husband and was seen by many as a unifying symbol as her country underwent repeated crises.
Renowned in the 1960s for her elegance and charisma, she regularly featured in lists of the world’s best-dressed women and appeared on magazine covers from Time to Paris Match, which called her “The most beautiful queen in the world”.
In her younger days, she met US presidents and Hollywood superstars, with some Western media drawing comparisons with former US first lady Jackie Kennedy.
Born in Bangkok on August 12, 1932, as the country transitioned from absolute to constitutional monarchy, Sirikit Kitiyakara was the daughter of a diplomat who was a minor royal himself.
She met Bhumibol Adulyadej, her distant cousin, in Paris while her father served as Thai ambassador to France.
They married in 1950, just before Bhumibol’s coronation, after a courtship that began as he recovered from a car crash in Switzerland which cost him the sight of one eye.
She was 17 when they wed, beginning a royal partnership that seemed cribbed from a fairytale and would span almost seven decades.
– End of an era –
Together they had four children, including their only son, King Vajiralongkorn, who succeeded to the throne in 2016.
Sirikit was at Bhumibol’s side throughout his reign and her birthday was designated as Thailand’s National Mother’s Day.
She and Bhumibol travelled extensively throughout the country, often listening to rural Thais’ concerns first hand, earning her the affectionate title “Mother of the Nation”.
Sirikit built a global image as a style icon and philanthropist, helping humanise the monarchy as Thailand navigated decades of transformation, including 10 military coups.
But uncertainty surrounds the royal succession, with no public announcement of an heir to the current king — among his seven children, four have been officially disowned.
Queen Sirikit’s passing marked “the close of an era” said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai former diplomat and academic on the monarchy who is now in self-exile, told AFP.
She had a “deep bond with the populace”, he said, and her passing would “evoke profound national mourning”.
Sirikit vanished from public view during the last decade of her life, battling illness and shielded by Thailand’s strict royal defamation laws that make discussion of the monarchy fraught with risk.
Sirikit never spoke publicly about politics.
But in 2008, she attended the funeral of a Yellow Shirt protester, a movement opposed to ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Thailand’s polarised colour-coded politics.
Her passing could mark a turning point for the Thai monarchy, prompting reflection on its future role, Pavin added.
“Her continued presence symbolised a tangible link between the present reign and the widely cherished past era,” he said.
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