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Thai princess dies at 84
02/01/2008 09:55 - (SA)
Bangkok - Princess Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died on Wednesday, prompting an outpouring of public mourning and a temporary halt to the country's tumultuous political activity. She was 84 years old.
The palace announced a 100-day mourning period and government offices lowered their flags to half-staff, as thousands of Thais placed garlands in the princess' honour outside the hospital where she passed away.
"Although the doctors tried their utmost to treat her, her condition has been deteriorating gradually and she passed away at 02:54," said a statement from the Royal Household Bureau.
Galyani's passing came after the 80-year-old king himself recovered from the symptoms of a stroke after being hospitalised for three weeks in October. Both were tended to at Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital.
The princess' body was to be transferred to the Grand Palace later in the day in a teak coffin. Details of her funeral were not immediately announced.
Political activity that has gripped Thailand since its December 23 election -the first since last year's coup - was put on hold, with politicians cancelling scheduled news conferences and TV newscasters donning black.
Galyani had been hospitalised since June, after doctors found she had abdominal cancer. In a statement issued hours before her passing, the palace said Galyani's kidneys were not functioning and her breathing had weakened.
The late princess was noted for her interest in the arts, especially theatre and classical music, a taste cultivated when she, like the king, was educated in Switzerland, where she spent much time until later life.
She spoke five languages and loved to travel, documenting many of her journeys in books. Known as modest and self-effacing, she told an interviewer in 2000: "I don't like gala dinners. They're boring."
Galyani was the oldest child of Prince Mahidol - a son of King Chulalongkorn - and his commoner wife, Sangwal. All three of their children were born abroad, where Prince Mahidol travelled and studied medicine. Galyani was born in London on May 6 1923.
Prince Mahidol died in 1929, leaving his wife to raise the three children alone. After Thailand's absolute monarchy was abolished following a 1932 coup, Sangwal and her children moved to Switzerland to get away from the maelstrom of politics.
In 1935, Galyani's other brother, Ananda, was named king, though he spent most of the next decade, including World War 2, in neutral Switzerland.
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