Bangkok
AP
—
Thailand’s Mother Sirikit, who oversaw royal projects to support the rural poor, preserve traditional craft-making and protect the environment, died on Friday. She was 93 years old.
The Royal Bureau announced that she died at a Bangkok hospital. She had been suffering from a blood infection since October 17, but her symptoms did not improve despite the efforts of her medical team.
She has largely disappeared from public view in recent years due to declining health. Her husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in October 2016.
Photos released by the palace on the Queen’s 88th birthday showed her son King Vajiralongkorn and other members of the royal family visiting Chulalongkorn Hospital as she underwent long-term treatment.
Though overshadowed by her late husband and son, Sirikit was loved and influential in her own right.
Her portraits hang in homes, offices and public spaces across Thailand, and her birthday on August 12th was celebrated as Mother’s Day. Her work has ranged from supporting Cambodian refugees to saving parts of the country’s once lush forests from destruction.
But as the monarchy’s role in society has come under increasing scrutiny during Thailand’s political turmoil over the past few decades, so too has the queen’s role.
Stories spread of her influence behind the scenes during the turmoil, which featured two military takeovers and several bloody street protests.
And her public appearance at the funeral of a protester killed in a clash with police signaled to many that she had taken a side of the political divide.
Sirikit Kitiyakara was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Bangkok on August 12, 1932, when the absolute monarchy was replaced by a constitutional system. Both her parents were related to early kings of the current Chakri dynasty.
She attended school in wartime Bangkok, a target of Allied air raids, and after World War II, she moved with her diplomat father to France, where she served as ambassador.
At age 16, she met Thailand’s new king in Paris, where she was studying music and languages.
Their friendship began when Bhumibol moved to Switzerland, where he was studying, to help care for him after he was involved in a near-fatal car accident. The king wooed her with poetry, composing a waltz called “I Dream of You.”
The two married in 1950, and at their coronation ceremony later that year, they both swore to “rule with justice and for the benefit and well-being of the Siamese people.”
The couple have four children, the current King Maha Vajiralongkorn, Princess Ubolratana, Princess Sirindhorn, and Princess Chulabhorn.
Early in their married life, the Thai royals traveled the world as goodwill ambassadors and forged personal bonds with world leaders.
But by the early 1970s, the king and queen were devoting most of their energy to Thailand’s internal problems, including rural poverty, opium addiction among the hill tribes, and communist insurgency.
Each year, the couple also officiated at more than 500 royal, religious and state ceremonies as they traveled through the countryside.
A perfect dresser and avid shopper, the Queen also enjoyed climbing hills and entering squalid villages where the older women called her “daughter.”
Thousands of people raised issues with her ranging from marital disputes to serious illnesses, and the queen and her assistants took up many issues privately.
Although some in Bangkok rumored her involvement in palace intrigue and her lavish lifestyle, her popularity in the countryside persisted.
“There are misunderstandings between rural people and the wealthy so-called civilized people of Bangkok.
“Rural Thai people say they are ignored, and we are trying to fill that gap by living in remote areas,” she said in a 1979 Associated Press interview.
Royal development projects were established throughout Thailand, some of which were initiated and directly supervised by the Queen.
To increase incomes for poor rural families and preserve disappearing crafts, the Queen launched a foundation called Support in 1976 that has trained thousands of villagers in silk weaving, jewelery making, painting, pottery and other traditional crafts.
Sometimes called the “Green Queen,” she also founded a wildlife breeding center, an “open zoo,” and a hatchery to save endangered sea turtles.
The “Her Forest Loves Water” and “Little House in the Forest” projects sought to demonstrate the economic benefits of protecting forest cover and water sources.
While royal families in other countries had only ceremonial or symbolic roles, Queen Sirikit believed that the monarchy was an important institution in Thailand.
“Some people in the university think the monarchy is outdated. But I think Thailand needs an understanding monarch,” she said in a 1979 interview. “If you say, ‘The King is coming,’ thousands of people will gather.
“There’s something magical about the mere word king. It’s amazing.”
