Thailand's Queen Mother Sirikit has passed away at 93

Thailands Queen Mother Sirikit who supervised royal projects to help the rural poor preserve traditional craftmaking and protect the environment died on Friday October 24 She was 93The Royal Household Bureau said she died in a hospital in Bangkok Since October 17 she had been suffering from a blood infection but despite her medical teams efforts her conditions did not improve She had been largely absent from public life in recent years due to declining health Her husband King Bhumibol Adulyadej died in October 2016Photos released by the palace for her 88th birthday showed her son King Maha Vajiralongkorn and other royals visiting the queen mother at Chulalongkorn Hospital where she was receiving longterm careAlthough overshadowed by her late husband and her son Sirikit was beloved and influential in her own right Her portrait was displayed in homes offices and public spaces across Thailand and her August 12 birthday was celebrated as Mothers Day Her activities ranged from helping Cambodian refugees to saving some of the countrys oncelush forests from destructionYet as the monarchys role in society was increasingly scrutinised during Thailands last decades of political turbulence so too was the queens part in it Stories circulated of her behindthescenes influence during upheaval marked by two military takeovers and several rounds of bloody street protests And when she publicly attended the funeral of a protester killed during one clash with police it for many marked her taking a side in the political schismSirikit Kitiyakara was born into a rich aristocratic family in Bangkok on August 12 in 1932 the year absolute monarchy was replaced by a constitutional system Both of her parents were related to earlier kings of the current Chakri dynastyShe attended schools in wartime Bangkok the target of Allied air raids and after World War II moved with her diplomat father to France where he served as ambassadorAt 16 she met Thailands newly crowned king in Paris where she was studying music and languages Their friendship blossomed after Bhumibol suffered a nearfatal car accident and she moved to Switzerland where he was studying to help care for him The king courted her with poetry and composed a waltz titled I Dream of YouThe pair married in 1950 and at a coronation ceremony later the same year both vowed to reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese Thai peopleThe couple had four children current King Maha Vajiralongkorn and princesses Ubolratana Sirindhorn and ChulabhornDuring their early married life the Thai royals crisscrossed the world as goodwill ambassadors and forged personal ties with world leadersBut by the early 1970s the king and queen were devoting most of their energies to Thailands domestic problems including rural poverty opium addiction in hill tribes and a communist insurgencyEach year the couple traveled around the countryside while also officiating at more than 500 royal religious and state ceremoniesThe queen who was an impeccable dresser and avid shopper also relished climbing hills and entering squalid villages where older women called her daughterThousands raised their problems to her ranging from marital squabbles to serious diseases and the queen and her assistants took up many personallyWhile some in Bangkok gossiped about her involvement in palace intrigues and her lavish lifestyle her popularity in the countryside enduredMisunderstandings arise between people in rural areas and the rich socalled civilized people in Bangkok People in rural Thailand say they are neglected and we try to fill that gap by staying with them in remote areas she said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1979Royal development projects were set up across Thailand some of them initiated and directly supervised by the queenTo increase income of poor rural families and preserve dying crafts the queen in 1976 launched SUPPORT a foundation which has trained thousands of villagers in silkweaving jewelrymaking painting ceramics and other traditional craftsSometimes dubbed the Green Queen she also set up wildlife breeding centers open zoos and hatcheries to save endangered sea turtles Her Forest Loves Water and Little House in the Forest projects sought to demonstrate the economic gains of preserving forest cover and water sourcesWhile royalty elsewhere had only ceremonial or symbolic roles Queen Sirikit believed the monarchy was a vital institution in ThailandThere are some in the universities who think the monarchy is obsolete But I think Thailand needs an understanding monarch she said in the 1979 interview At the call The king is coming thousands will gatherThe mere word king has something magic in it It is wonderfulThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or 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