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The 47-year-old princess and eldest daughter of King Vajiralongkorn was taken to hospital in December 2022 after she collapsed from a heart condition and other infections. She has been in a coma ever since.
After years of treatment, physicians discovered a stomach infection that led to inflammation in her intestines in April, causing her blood pressure to fall and her heartbeat to become irregular, the statement said.
Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha, in hospital since 2022, treated for blood infection, palace says
She has been given medicine and medical devices have been deployed to support her lungs and kidneys, but her health has continued to decline, the palace said, adding that doctors will continue to closely monitor her condition and provide further treatment.
Last year, Thailand’s influential Queen Mother passed away at the age of 93.
The 47-year-old royal — the eldest daughter of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 73 — was long considered a likely successor to the throne before her collapse in 2022. Princess Bha, as she is commonly known, has never married or had children and is the King’s only child with his first wife, Soamsawali Kitiyakara.
In a statement released Thursday, May 21, the Bureau of the Royal Household said the princess is suffering from an abdominal infection and inflammation in her large intestine.
The palace added that Princess Bha is experiencing “unstable vital signs, low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat and abnormal blood coagulation.”
Princess Bha has remained hospitalized and in a coma since December 2022, after collapsing from a heart condition while training dogs at the Military Dog Training Ground in Pak Chong District.
“She continues to rely on medical equipment to support the function of her lungs and kidneys,” the palace said, adding that her condition has “continued to deteriorate” and that the now “uncontrollable” infection has “affected other organs.”
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The Thai royal family has released seven updates on the princess’s condition in the years since her hospitalization, largely keeping details of her illness private.
In a previous palace statement released in August 2025, doctors at Chulalongkorn Red Cross Hospital in Bangkok said they had detected “a severe infection in the bloodstream,” leading them to administer antibiotics and medication to stabilize her blood pressure.
Year-Long Funeral Begins for Thailand's Queen Sirikit After Her Death at Age 93
People hold portraits of Thailand's former Queen Sirikit as they gather in front of Chulalongkorn Hospital, where she passed away, in Bangkok on October 25, 2025; Queen Sirikit
Before her hospitalization, Princess Bha held degrees in law and international relations, worked with the United Nations and served as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria. She was also known for advocating for the rights of incarcerated women and helping advance the U.N.’s 2010 “Bangkok Rules” regarding the treatment of female prisoners.
Now, attention has increasingly turned to the King’s youngest son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, 21, as a possible future heir. The prince, 21, is the only child of the king and his third wife, Srirasmi Suwadee.
Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn (2nd R) and Queen Suthida (R) wave to well-wishers with his children Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana (L), Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti (2nd L) and Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol from the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall of the Grand Palace as they grant a public audience on the final day of his royal coronation in Bangkok on May 6, 2019
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The King also has five children by his second wife, Yuvadhida Polpraserth. After the couple divorced, she and her children fled to England before coming to the United States. The former consort and her four sons, who would be next in line to the throne, were reportedly banished from Thailand; the second eldest, Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse, returned to the country in 2023.
Their daughter, Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, was returned to Thailand to live with the royal family.