Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha dies after more than three years in coma, palace officials say

Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha dies after more than three years in coma, palace officials say8 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJonathan HeadSouth East Asia correspondentGetty ImagesShe was the eldest of King Vajiralongkorn's seven childrenThailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who has been in a coma for more than three years, has died, the royal household has announced.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.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.From 2012 to 2014 she was Thailand's ambassador to Austria, where she built a relationship with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).She started speaking out on the need for penal reform, with a particular focus on vulnerable women who end up in prison; Thailand has one of the world's highest numbers of female inmates.Once back in Thailand she became the UNODC's Ambassador for the Rule of Law in South East Asia, and continued to advocate reform of Thailand's criminal justice system, in which severe sentences are often handed down on people convicted of relatively minor drug possession charges.In 2021 her father made her a chief of staff in his private bodyguard, giving her the rank of general.Princess Bajrakitiyabha was also a fitness enthusiast who often took part in long-distance runs.Her abilities, and the trust her...