She was a lawyer, an ambassador, a general—not a ceremonial figure.
A vida da princesa Bajrakitiyabha, filha mais velha do rei tailandês Maha Vajiralongkorn, encerrou-se esta semana aos 47 anos, após quase quatro anos de silêncio — um coma que começou em dezembro de 2022, quando seu coração cedeu durante uma visita ao nordeste da Tailândia. Ela não era apenas uma figura da realeza: era advogada formada pela Cornell, diplomata, general e defensora dos direitos de mulheres encarceradas. Sua morte, anunciada pelo palácio real em 11 de junho, não é somente a perda de uma herdeira da coroa, mas a de uma vida construída com propósito e serviço público — interrompida abruptamente por uma tarde em que o corpo simplesmente não resistiu.
- Em dezembro de 2022, a princesa desabou durante uma visita ao nordeste tailandês e foi transportada de helicóptero a Bangcoc, mas jamais voltou a despertar.
- Nas semanas finais, infecções múltiplas — no abdômen, no cólon, no sangue — se somaram a falhas cardíacas e de coagulação, num colapso progressivo e irreversível.
- Sua morte retira um dos três filhos do rei com título real e elegibilidade constitucional para a sucessão ao trono, abrindo questões sobre o futuro da linha dinástica.
- A Tailândia perde não apenas uma princesa, mas uma jurista com doutorado, ex-embaixadora em três países europeus e embaixadora da ONU para o estado de direito no Sudeste Asiático.
- O palácio confirmou o falecimento na noite de quinta-feira, 11 de junho de 2026, encerrando quase quatro anos de incerteza e vigília silenciosa em torno de sua condição.
A princesa Bajrakitiyabha, conhecida carinhosamente como Princesa Pa, morreu nesta semana aos 47 anos, após quase quatro anos em coma. Tudo começou em dezembro de 2022, quando ela desmaiou em decorrência de uma condição cardíaca durante uma visita a Nakhon Ratchasima, no nordeste da Tailândia. Um helicóptero a levou às pressas para Bangcoc, mas ela nunca mais recobrou a consciência. Em suas últimas semanas, infecções generalizadas — no abdômen, no cólon e no sangue — somaram-se a irregularidades no ritmo cardíaco e falhas na coagulação, até que o corpo não resistiu mais.
Nascida em 7 de dezembro de 1978, filha do então príncipe herdeiro Vajiralongkorn e de sua primeira esposa, a princesa Soamsawali, Bajrakitiyabha construiu uma trajetória marcada pelo rigor intelectual e pelo serviço público. Obteve mestrado e doutorado em direito pela Universidade Cornell, atuou como promotora no Ministério Público tailandês e, entre 2012 e 2014, serviu como embaixadora da Tailândia na Áustria, Eslovênia e Eslováquia.
De volta a Bangcoc, dedicou-se a uma causa que se tornaria sua marca: os direitos das mulheres encarceradas, especialmente as que estavam grávidas ou haviam dado à luz durante o cumprimento de pena. Em 2017, a ONU a nomeou embaixadora da boa vontade para o estado de direito no Sudeste Asiático. Em 2021, ingressou nas Forças Armadas tailandesas com a patente de general, assumindo a chefia do estado-maior do Comando de Segurança Real.
Ela era uma das três filhas do rei com título real e elegibilidade constitucional para a sucessão ao trono. Sua morte não apenas altera esse cenário dinástico, mas encerra a história de uma mulher que foi, ao mesmo tempo, jurista, diplomata, general e arquiteta silenciosa de mudanças — até que uma tarde de dezembro interrompeu tudo.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest daughter of Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn, died this week at 47 years old. She had been in a coma for nearly four years, ever since December 2022, when she collapsed from a heart condition while visiting Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand's northeast. A helicopter rushed her to Bangkok for treatment, but she never regained consciousness. The royal palace announced her death on Thursday evening, June 11th.
In her final weeks, her condition deteriorated sharply. Multiple infections spread through her body—in her abdomen, her colon, her blood. Her blood pressure dropped. Her heart rhythm became irregular. Her blood would not clot properly. These cascading failures, layered one atop another, finally overwhelmed her.
Bajrakitiyabha, known informally as Princess Pa, was born on December 7, 1978. She was the daughter of King Vajiralongkorn when he was still the crown prince, and of his first wife, Princess Soamsawali. She built a life of public service and intellectual rigor. She studied law at Cornell University in the United States, earning both a master's degree and a doctorate. From 2006 to 2011, she worked as a prosecutor in Thailand's Office of the Attorney General. Between 2012 and 2014, she served as Thailand's ambassador to Austria, Slovenia, and Slovakia—a posting that reflected both her diplomatic skill and her family's confidence in her judgment.
When she returned to Bangkok, she continued her work in the attorney general's office, but her focus had shifted toward a cause that consumed her: the rights of women in prison. She founded a charitable organization dedicated to improving conditions for incarcerated women, particularly those who were pregnant or had given birth while behind bars. In 2017, the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice recognized this work by naming her a goodwill ambassador for the rule of law in Southeast Asia.
In 2021, at 42 years old, she joined the Thai military and was commissioned as a general. She took on the role of chief of staff for the Royal Security Command, a position of significant responsibility and trust. She was one of only three of King Vajiralongkorn's children who held formal royal titles and who were constitutionally eligible to succeed to the throne. Her death removes one of those potential heirs from the line of succession.
Thailand will remember her for the substance of her work—the legal training, the diplomatic service, the quiet advocacy for women whose voices had been silenced by incarceration. She was not a ceremonial figure. She was a lawyer, an ambassador, a general, and an architect of change in her own country. And then, on a December afternoon in 2022, her heart failed, and nearly four years of stillness followed. Now she is gone.
Citas Notables
She will be remembered for her role in public life, her efforts to improve conditions for incarcerated women, and her diplomatic career.— Thai royal palace statement
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What was she doing in Nakhon Ratchasima that day in December 2022?
The sources don't say. We know she was visiting the province when she collapsed, but not why she was there or what she was doing. It's one of those details that got lost in the medical emergency that followed.
Four years in a coma is an extraordinarily long time. Was there ever hope she might wake up?
The palace never said. They released medical updates periodically, but they were sparse—mostly clinical descriptions of her condition. Whether her family held onto hope, whether doctors thought recovery was possible, we don't know. What we do know is that by last month, things were clearly failing. Multiple organ infections. That's when the end became visible.
She was a prosecutor, an ambassador, a general. That's an unusual combination of careers.
It is. It suggests someone who moved fluidly between institutions—law, diplomacy, military command. Each role built on the others. The legal training gave her credibility in the attorney general's office. The diplomatic work showed she could represent Thailand abroad. The military commission was perhaps the culmination—a position of real authority and security responsibility.
And the work with imprisoned women—was that personal to her, or part of her official duties?
It seems to have been both. She founded the organization herself, which suggests it mattered to her beyond any formal obligation. But as a prosecutor and later as a public figure, she had the platform and the access to actually do something about it. That's rare—the combination of caring and power.
What does her death mean for the succession?
Thailand's constitution says only three of the king's children are formally eligible to inherit the throne. She was one of them. Now there are two. It doesn't change the immediate line of succession, but it does narrow the field of possibility. In a country where succession matters deeply, that's significant.