Thai succession crisis intensifies

The ‘succession crisis’ in Thailand has been vigorously brought back into spotlight following the death of Princess Bajrakitiyabha. The Royal News Organisation looks at the implications of the late Princess’s passing and who the next possible heir could be.

The Bureau of the Royal Household announced the untimely death of Princess Bajrakitiyabha at the age of 47 this past Thursday. The Princess has spent some of the last three-and-a-half years in a coma in Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital after collapsing in December 2022 from an unknown heart condition. The King’s eldest child — affectionally known as Princess Bha —was seen as the next potential successor of Thailand’s monarchy.

“This loss is not merely bad news announced to the people, but an immeasurable grief in the hearts of the entire nation,” Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in an address to the nation the next morning with the Thai government ordering flags at half-mast for 15-days. King Rama X has ordered for a royal funeral of the highest honours. Bha’s death leaves a void which many find hard to fill or where to look next.

Rama X (Vajiralongkorn) is Thailand’s current and tenth King of the Chakri Dynasty, has six children amongst three previous wives. Princess Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest, born in 1978, was the only child from Vajiralongkorn’s first marriage to Princess Soamsawali (née Kitiyakara). Vajiralongkorn and Soamsawali were married in 1977 and later divorced in 1991. The King’s, then Crown Prince, second marriage was to Yuvadhida Polpraserth in 1994. While the marriage only lasted two years, they divorced in 1996, the couple had four children, three sons and a daughter: Juthavachara (b. 1979), Vacharaesorn (b. 1981), Chakriwat (b. 1983), Vatcharawee (b. 1985), Busyanambejra Mahidol (b. 1987) (later Her Royal Highness Princess Sirivannavari).

The King’s most publicised and well known marriage, before his current wife, was to Srirasmi Suwadee, later Princess of Thailand, in 2001. The Crown Prince Couple had one child together, a son named Prince Dipangkorn (b. 2005). Vajiralongkorn later divorced Srirasmi in 2011 after alleged corruption which saw her relinquish her titles and placed under house arrest. She continues to live in seclusion around 50 miles outside of Bangkok.

Vajiralongkorn became King in October 2016 following the death of his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) who was Thailand’s longest reigning monarch. Just before his coronation in May 2019, following a period of mourning for his father, Vajiralongkorn married Suthida Tidjai in a ceremony at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. During the coronation, Suthida was named Queen of Thailand alongside her husband King Rama X. Thai monarchs take a regnal name upon their accession, in this case Vajiralongkorn is the tenth Rama sovereign of the Chakri Dynasty.

The crisis which now looms even greater over the Thai Royal Family is that succession is technically still male primogeniture meaning only men can accede to the throne. However, a change in the constitution states that if the throne becomes vacant, and the King had not named an heir, Parliament could name a ‘royal daughter’ to become Queen.

While Vajiralongkorn has not proclaimed an heir, Bajrakitiyabha with her intellect and deep empathy for the people was the unnamed successor to the throne. She was highly regarded for her judicial work as a public prosecutor and extensive background in the United Nations. The late Princess also assisted many incarcerated women in helping improve their living conditions as well as rehabilitation once they were released. “Society cannot grow if there is instability and injustice. I think the rule of law is a very important pillar to development, to economic growth, and of course to human rights.”  Princess Bajrakitiyabha said in a 2013 AP interview.

Her death on Thursday has now thrown the unspoken succession plan into crisis. While men take precedence, meaning Prince Dipangkorn was always “technically” ahead of Bajrakitiyabha, the young Prince, 21, is believed to have several “developmental issues” making him “unfit” to rule, at least alone without a co-regency. This leaves the door open to the possibility of the King’s other daughter, Princess Sirivannavari (39), to take the throne after Rama X.

While there has been occasional female regents in Thai history, most recently and notably when Queen Sirikit held the position in 1956 while her husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), was undertaking his monastic duties as a monk.

You may be asking, what about Vajiralongkorn’s other son’s from the previous marriages? As a result of the prior divorces, his wives along with his own children, were banished and stripped of all titles and ranks. However, in recent years the second and third eldest, Vacharaesorn and Chakriwat, have returned to Thailand in hopes of gaining a prominent role within the Royal Family. They even began taking on quasi royal engagements. This did not go over well with the King, or possibly some in the Palace, when, in June 2025, the brothers were picked up by Thai security officials and deported back to the United States.

Also in 2025, the eldest son, Juthavachara, attempted to enter Thailand but was detained at the airport and refused entry. Juthavachara, who goes by “Max”, said in an interview with TIME, “I want to get word to my father that I want to go back to live and to work. I have no other ambition other than to go back and be his loyal subject. But unfortunately, there seems to be some kind of misunderstanding that has prevented us from entering the country.”

There has yet to be an explanation for their apparent urgent dismissal and refusal of entry of the three from the Palace. Thailand is notorious for its “Lèse-Majesté” law which bans any defamation or insults towards the royal family, specifically the King, the Queen, as well as the heir-apparent (or regent). The strict laws in place surrounding the royal family make even the slightest leak of information grounds for years of imprisonment.

The throne of the Chakri Dynasty remains in the air as to whom will succeed. If King Rama X were to pass away tomorrow, there would be no clear public line of succession, and most likely, neither in the Palace itself.