Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit died at a hospital in Bangkok late Friday at the age of 93, the Royal Household Bureau announced.
The former queen of Thailand was suffering from a blood infection since October 17.
She has been largely absent from public life in recent years due to declining health. Her husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in October 2016.
They were married on 28 April 1950, a week before his coronation on 5 May.
His coronation was put on hold for four years as he returned to Switzerland to complete his university studies.
He actually became king in 1946, when his 20-year-old brother, King Ananda Mahidol, died of a gunshot wound in circumstances that remain unclear to this day.
Who was Queen Sirikit?
Born in Bangkok on August 12, 1932, when Thailand transitioned from absolute to constitutional monarchy, Sirikit Kitiyakara was the daughter of a diplomat who was himself a minor royal.
She met her distant cousin, the future King Bhumibol Adulyadej, in Paris while her father was serving as the Thai ambassador to France.
The couple married after a courtship that began while he was recovering from a car accident that left him blind in one eye.
She was just 17 years old when they got married, a marriage that lasted nearly seven decades.
They had four children, including their only son, King Vajiralongkorn.
Thailand’s National Mother’s Day is celebrated on 12 August, a public holiday that coincides with the birthday of Queen Mother Sirikit.
The day honors the Queen as the “Mother of the Thai Nation” and also serves as a day to celebrate and show appreciation for mothers across the country.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar