Princess Anne meets with Princess Sirindhorn

The Princesses Royal meet in Bangkok; Anne and Sirindhorn hold an audience at Chulalongkorn University. 

Princess Anne and Sir Tim were in Bangkok earlier this week on an official visit, during which the couple met with numerous locals and organisations with which they have a special connection. It was, however, one private meeting that almost went unnoticed.

Princess Anne visited Chulalongkorn University, the first institution for higher learning founded in 1917, which highlighted Women in STEM, with Her Royal Highness presenting certificates to women who have distinguished themselves in the field of STEM. Before the ceremonies kicked off, the Princess Royal of the United Kingdom was received for a private audience with the Princess Royal of Thailand,  Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The two Princesses greeted each other with the warmest affection, an apparent relationship, some would even call it a friendship, between the two over decades of visits to and from each respective country. During the private audience, gifts were exchanged, including books about Windsor Castle as well as an apparent Thai silk scarf.

The title of Princess Royal was first used around four hundred years ago, in the 1640s, when Queen Henrietta Maria, wife and consort of King Charles I, persuaded her husband to create the title of “Princess Royal” for their eldest daughter, Princess Mary, in the way the King of France styled his eldest daughter “Madame Royal”. Over the years, in the United Kingdom, there have been seven Princesses Royal, including Princess Anne, who was granted the title in 1987.

In Thailand, the title was first used for Princess Sirindhorn herself. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), on the occasion of his 50th birthday in 1977, conferred the titles of ‘Somdej Phra’, the highest rank of Thai Princes and Princesses, as well as ‘Maha Chakri’, meaning ‘The Great Chakri’, on Princess Sirindhorn of the Chakri Dynasty,

In December that year, a ceremony was held at Government House to celebrate the new appellation. In addition to the new title, the Princess received her own royal standard, along with honorary commissions in the army, navy and air force.