THE NEW YORK TIMES: As the wife of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, she traveled the world charming government leaders and the public.
Sirikit, the former queen of Thailand and the widow of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose portraits appeared together for decades in houses and shops around the country, died on Friday in Bangkok. She was 93.
The royal palace said the cause was complications of blood sepsis. Sirikit had rarely appeared in public since she had a debilitating stroke in 2012.
King Bhumibol, the world’s longest-serving head of state, died in 2016. He was succeeded by the couple’s son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
In Thailand, Sirikit was known as Queen Mother. Born into royalty as the daughter of a prince, she met the young King Bhumibol as a teenager when she was living in France, where her father was the Thai ambassador. They married on April 28, 1950, when she was 18, a week before his coronation.
He was crowned as Rama IX of the Chakri Dynasty, and she received the royal title Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat. Widely believed to be the world’s longest-serving queen consort, she had three daughters in addition to their son.
A glamorous young couple, the king and queen traveled often in the 1960s to the United States and dozens of countries in Europe and Asia, where she charmed both government leaders and the public with her elegance, vivaciousness and winning smile. In both Western dress and Thai silks, she topped the International Best-Dressed List — a prestigious annual ranking of the world’s most stylish figures — four times in the 1960s. » | Seth Mydans | Friday, Octoner 24, 2025
La Thaïlande entame une année de deuil après le décès de la reine mère : Des portraits d’elle ont été accrochés dans les espaces publics et dans les maisons. Une vaste couverture médiatique accompagne le début de ce deuil, faisant l’éloge de l’ancienne reine Sirikit, surnommée dans sa jeunesse la «Jackie Kennedy d’Asie». / La Thaïlande se revêt d'habits sombres et de portraits dorés pour entamer dimanche une année de deuil officiel après le décès de la reine Sirikit, mère de l'actuel roi, dont le corps reposera pendant un an en chapelle ardente. Des admirateurs de la famille royale, en deuil, se sont rassemblés pour attendre et saluer le cortège transportant le corps de la veuve du roi Bhumibol Adulyadej, de l'hôpital où elle est décédée vendredi à l'âge de 93 ans, vers le Palais royal de Bangkok. »
