Princess Bajrakitiyabha's Body Moved from Hospital to Grand Palace in Royal Procession

Princess Bajrakitiyabha's body left the hospital Saturday afternoon in a royal funeral procession of flashing motorcycles and cars that traveled through Bangkok's closed city-centre streets. The silver van carrying her body was followed by her father, the king, in a cream-coloured car.

Mourners had gathered from morning along the route, many holding umbrellas and fans against the hot and humid conditions.

Citizens dressed in black and officials in white suits with black armbands lined the sidewalks for kilometres; officials saluted while the seated crowd silently bowed their heads, many in tears. The princess, known in Thailand as Princess Bha, collapsed while training her dogs in December 2022 and remained in a coma for nearly four years. She died Thursday evening at age 47.

Wanida Lainun, wearing a brooch with the princess's image, told The Guardian that her aunt had taken part in one of the princess's projects assisting underprivileged people in Chiang Mai. Anchalee, who asked that her last name not be published, said she met the princess as a college student and participated in the funeral bathing ceremony at the Grand Palace earlier Saturday.

The princess trained as a lawyer and served as ambassador to Austria and in the royal security command.

She also campaigned for the rights of female prisoners. After floods struck Bangkok in 1995, she and her mother cooked meals, packed medicine and delivered aid to stranded areas. In October that year she founded the Friends in Need (of 'Pa') project under the Thai Red Cross Society, which installed weather stations in high-risk areas as early-warning systems.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul led members of the Thai cabinet in performing the funeral bathing rite at the Grand Palace. The government instructed officials to wear black and ordered flags flown at half-mast for 15 days.