Queen consort of Thailand, married to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. She died on October 24th 2025 at the age of 93, having been largely out of the public eye since a stroke in 2012.
In 1960 New York threw a ticker-tape parade for Thailand's young king. A reporter asked Bhumibol, who never smiled, why he was so solemn; the king gestured to his consort: "She is my smile." The press called Sirikit, who mixed Thai jewels with French couture, the Jackie Kennedy of Asia. According to Thai tradition a good king must model Buddha-like equanimity; the counterpose to Bhumibol's stoicism was Sirikit's glamour. Together the royal couple modelled a monarchy for Thailand's aspirational middle classes. To the rural poor, their charitable works made them appear to care when politicians did not.
Sirikit intervened actively in Thailand's turbulent politics. By the 1970s she had aligned herself with right-wing coup-makers in her own army unit, the Queen's Guard. In 2008, when royalist demonstrations seeking to unseat the government turned violent, she gave money to the movement and took the extraordinary step of attending the funeral of a protester killed by police. The government soon fell.
When Bhumibol died in 2016, the then junta declared a full year of mourning; Thais earnestly complied, wearing black and white. Football matches were cancelled and television dramas taken off air. On Sirikit's death the reaction was far more muted. Fewer Thais wore mourning clothing. Popular events were not cancelled: the South Korean pop group Blackpink played at the national stadium the day after she died, though audience members were asked to don black and white. The muted response suggested changed attitudes to the monarchy, driven in part by the erratic behaviour of her son, Vajiralongkorn.
Why can't you be a non-conformist like everyone else?