Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha dies after more than three years in coma

Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who had been in a coma for more than three years, has died, the royal household has announced. She was 47.

She collapsed in December 2022 while exercising her dogs. Her doctors attributed it to a severely irregular heartbeat, caused by a mycoplasma infection in her heart.

With her death, the Thai royal family has lost its most visibly accomplished member, and someone who might have played a pivotal role in an as yet unclear succession.

She was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn's seven children, born on 7 December 1978 to his first wife and cousin, Princess Soamsawali.

Reuters Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha greets her royalists as she leaves a religious ceremony to commemorate the death of King Chulalongkorn, known as King Rama V, at The Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand, October 23, 2020.Reuters

"The medical team provided the closest and most intensive care possible, but her condition continued to decline progressively," the palace said in a statement on Friday morning, adding that she passed away at 19:48 local time (12:48 GMT) the previous day in Chulalongkorn Hospital.

She trained as a lawyer, getting two post-graduate degrees from Cornell University in the US. She worked briefly at the Thai mission to the United Nations in New York, before returning to Thailand to work in the Attorney-General's offices in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country.

Getty Images Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn and Princess Bajrakitiyabha (L) greet supporters in Bangkok on October 23, 2020.