BANGKOK: The body of the Thai king’s eldest daughter was brought to the royal palace in Bangkok on Saturday, as thousands of black-clad mourners lined the procession route.
Princess Bajrakitiyabha, known as Princess Bha, died aged 47 on Thursday following an abdominal infection. She had already spent more than three years in a coma due to a cardiac condition.
‘When it comes to saying goodbye, it’s not easy for us,’ mourner Donnapha Kladbupha, a 54-year-old English teacher and self-described royalist, said. The monarchy represented ‘unity’ for Thai people during times of distress, she said.
Nearby, others queued for their turn to perform a Buddhist ritual of pouring holy water into a ceremonial bowl placed before a portrait of the princess. ‘Pm sadthat she passed away, especially when I saw her pictures as a child,’ another mourner, Nitikan Tephakham, 79, from the northeastern province of Roi Et, said.
‘When she was sick, I prayed for sacred beings to protect her and hoped for a miracle,’ she added.
Thousands of mostly older mourners sat in sweltering temperatures along the 10-kilometre route from Chulalongkorn Hospital, where the princess had been treated, to the Grand Palace.
Her body arrived at the palace at around 5pm (1000 GMT) in a solemn and orderly procession. Police closed roads and traffic in parts of Bangkok’s commercial centre ground to a halt as the royal motorcade passed, led by King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida.-AFP