Princess Bajrakitiyabha was born on 7 December 1978 as the only child of the future King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand and his first wife and first cousin, Princess Soamsawali. Princess Soamsawali’s father was the elder brother of Vajiralongkorn’s mother, Queen Sirikit. Bajrakitiyabha was born in Dusit Palace in Bangkok.
She attended the Raijni School for elementary school and junior high school. She moved to England to attend Heathfield School in Ascot before finally graduating from the Chitralada School. She continued her education and worked towards a Bachelor of Laws from the Thammasat University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from the Sukhothai Thammatirat University. She then obtained a Master of Law from Cornell Law School in 2002 and a Doctor of Juridical Science from Cornell University in 2005. In 2012, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. During her university years, she was known as “Princess Patty.”1
Her parents’ marriage collapsed when Princess Bajrakitiyabha was still only a child. Her father began living with a woman called Yuvadhida Polpraserth in the late 1970s, and he went on to have five children with her while her mother refused a divorce. A divorced finally came through in July 1993, and Princess Soamsawali was given the title of Phra Worarachathinatdamat (The Princess Mother of the King’s First Grandchild). Her father went on to marry Yuvadhida Polpraserth in February 1994, but just two years after the wedding, she took their children to the United Kingdom and never returned to Thailand. Vajiralongkorn reportedly accused her of adultery and took their daughter, Princess Sirivannavari, back with him to Thailand. As a result, Yuvadhida and her fours son were stripped of their royal titles and currently live in the United States.
Bajrakitiyabha’s father married for a third time on 10 February 2001 to Srirasmi Suwadee, although the public was not informed until 2005 when she gave birth to a son, Prince Dipangkorn. She was then elevated to the rank of princess. This marriage, too, ended in divorce. In 2014, Srirasmi’s family was stripped of the name awarded to them and Srirasmi relinquished her royal titles. In the divorce settlement, she reportedly received 200 million baht (US$5.5 million). Their son remained a prince and is currently first in the line of succession. However, he is rumoured to be autistic and believed to be unable to rule on his own. In 2019, shortly before his coronation, her father remarried for the fourth time to Suthida Tidjai, who is now known as Queen Suthida. That same year, he also named a secondary consort, Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, whose position has been tenuous.
Meanwhile, Princess Bajrakitiyabha embarked on her career. She briefly worked at the Thai Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York before being appointed Attorney in the Office of the Attorney General in Bangkok and later to the Office of the Attorney General of Udon Thani Province. From 2012 until 2014, she was the Thai ambassador to Austria before she returned to the Office of the Attorney General. In 2021, she was appointed to the Royal Security Command in the position of Chief of Staff of The King’s Close Bodyguard Command.
On 14 December 2022, Princess Bajrakitiyabha collapsed while out running with her dogs. This may have been due to a heart condition or a brain aneurysm. She has not regained consciousness and is reportedly being kept alive by machines.
While this is a personal tragedy in itself, it also affects the succession in Thailand.2 With her brother presumed to be unable to rule, it was she who would have become the monarch or even the regent for her brother. With her out of the picture, the succession is suddenly wide open. The succession is not quite so clear-cut in Thailand. The succession of princesses or even succession through the female line is barred by the 1924 Palace Law of Succession. However, in 1974 the Constitution gave an exemption on this for “daughters of the monarch.”3
This means that behind Prince Dipangkon comes Princess Sirivannavari, King Vajiralongkorn’s daughter from his second marriage. She is currently unmarried and without children. After her comes Princess Sirindhorn, the second eldest sister of King Vajiralongkorn. His eldest sister Princess Ubol Ratana is excluded because she married a foreigner. Princess Sirindhorn, too, is unmarried and without issue. Then comes the King’s youngest sister Princess Chulabhorn, who does have two daughters. Technically, her daughters are excluded as it would be through the female line.
After this, the succession passes to Prince Nawaphan Yugala, who is a great-grandson of King Chulalongkorn (1853–1910).
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