Queen mama Sirikit, Thailand’s influential and glamorous Thountial, has died at 93

Thailand’s Queen Mother Mother Sirikit, who brought glamor and beauty to the post-war revival in the military country and in the following years, said Aged 93, said the Thai royal family on Saturday.

Sirikit has been out of the public eye since he suffered a stroke in 2012.

Her husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was Thailand’s longest-serving monarch, spending 70 years on the throne since 1946. He was by her side for most of that, and they got hearts at home for their charity work.

When they traveled abroad, she impressed the country’s media with her beauty and fashion sense.

During a 1960 tour of the United States that included a dinner at the White House, Time magazine called her “svelte” and “Archfeminist.” The French daily L’Aurore described him as “furious.”

Born in 1932, the year Thailand became king, Sirikit Kitiyakara was the daughter of the Thai Ambassador to France and lived a life of wealth and privilege.

While studying music and language in Paris she met Bhumibol, who had spent parts of his childhood in Switzerland.

“It was hate at first sight,” said the BBC transcript, noting that he had arrived late for their first meeting. “Then there was love.”

The couple spent time together in Paris and got married in 1949. They got married in Thailand at the age of 17.

Always in style, Sirikit collaborated with French Couturier Pierre Balmain for eye-catching dresses made from Thai silk. By supporting the preservation of traditional weaving techniques, it is said to be helping to revitalize Thailand’s silk industry.

For more than forty years, he regularly traveled with the king to the villages of Thailand, promoting development projects for the rural poor – their activities are televised at night in the country’s Royal Bulletin.

She was briefly stranded in 1956, when her husband spent two weeks at the temple, studying to become a Buddhist monk for two trips to Thailand.

In 1976, his birthday, Aug. 12, became Mother’s Day and a national holiday in Thailand.

His only son, now king Maha VajiralongKorn, also known as Rama X, succeeded Bhumibol after his death in 2016 despite his superior in His official title became the Queen mother.

Officially, the Monarchy is at the top of politics in Thailand, a modern history of coups and unstable governments. From time to time, however, the Royals have Sirikit intervene or take what appears to be political action.

In 1998, he used his birthday address to urge Thais to unite after the Prime Minister, Chuan Leekpai, faced a devastating blow in the opposition’s plan to hold a no-confidence motion in the hope of forcing new elections.

Later, he was associated with a political movement, the Democratic Alliance for Democracy (PAD), whose protests brought governments led or joined by Thaksin Shinawatra, a former telecoon tycoon.

In 2008, Sirikit attended the funeral of a pad protester killed in a clash with the police, implying royal support for a campaign that had helped the ruling government the previous year.

For many Thais, she will be remembered for her work of charity and kindness and as a symbol of feminine beauty. His death will be treated with respect in a country where there has been criticism of the strict Jadeste laws, which offer possible prison sentences for insulting the Royals, even those who have died.

He is survived by his son, the king, and three daughters.