BANGKOK – Thousands of grieving Thai royalists lined the streets of Bangkok on Oct 26, saluting a procession bringing former queen Sirikit’s body to lie in state for a year-long funeral at the capital’s Grand Palace.

Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide.

Former queen Sirikit, the mother of the current King Vajiralongkorn and wife of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Oct 24

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Her body was carried in a slow-moving ambulance from Chulalongkorn Hospital late on the afternoon of Oct 26, flanked by motorbike outriders on a 10km procession, to the Grand Palace.

Crowds of nurses clasped their hands and bowed as the convoy passed, while other spectators clutched portraits of the queen or wept as ranks of saluting police officers fell to one knee.

“I want to send her off for the last time, on her last journey, as one of her children – as a Thai who loves and respects her,” 56-year-old Boontham Kornwaen said outside the hospital.

The former queen’s body will lie in state at the seat of the Thai royalty for one year before cremation.

There were black and white tributes to the royal matriarch on towering digital advertising billboards, and on TVs in supermarkets and hotel lobbies. There were also pop-up notices on Thai banking apps.

Ms Tanaburdee Srimuang has kept a vigil outside the Grand Palace since news confirming Sirikit’s death broke in the early hours of Oct 25.

“I am not tired,” the 24-year-old said. “I am happy to be here for her for the last time, to be part of her send-off on this historic day.”

TV newscasters are wearing black and media websites have turned monochrome, while citizens have been asked to dress in muted colours and curtail celebratory public events for 90 days.

About half of the people in a supermarket and on a shopping street in central Bangkok were wearing the traditional Thai mourning colours of black or white, an AFP journalist saw.

K-pop supergroup Blackpink proceeded with sold-out shows on Oct 25 and 26 at Bangkok’s 50,000-seat Rajamangala National Stadium, but attendees were asked “to wear black attire as a mark of mourning”.

Mother of the Nation

Hundreds of mourners clad in black also filed into the Grand Palace from the morning of Oct 26, even before Sirikit’s remains arrived, paying tribute to ornate portraits depicting her.

“I knew today would come one day, but now that it has come, I am sad, very sad,” said insurance worker Taksina Puttisan, 52. “Her kindness towards Thais will be in our minds forever.”

Throughout her 66-year marriage to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Sirikit carved a dual reputation as a fashionista and the nation’s caring mother figure.

Some Western media compared her favourably to former US first lady Jackie Kennedy in the coverage of her tenure on the front pages of their magazines.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul delayed his departure to Malaysia on Oct 25 for a summit of Asean leaders where he was due to sign a peace deal with Cambodia, witnessed by US President Donald Trump. But he still jetted out for

, made after cross-border clashes in July killed more than 40 people and forced about 300,000 to flee their homes.

“I send my condolences to the great people of Thailand,” Mr Trump said on social media, en route to Malaysia on Oct 26.

The lengthy reign of Sirikit’s husband, from 1946 until 2016, was bookended by World War II and Mr Trump’s first election win. Though the late Thai King’s son inherited the throne about nine years ago, many still revere him as the nation’s most steadfast figurehead – and Sirikit as his constant companion.

Sirikit retired from the public eye in recent years, her privacy sealed by strict lese majeste laws that limit what can be reported about the royal family.

Sirikit had “suffered several illnesses” while hospitalised since 2019, including a blood infection in October, the palace said in a statement. But in her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, she had mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley.

She was referred to as the “Mother of the Nation” and her birthday was designated the country’s Mother’s Day. AFP