The Royal Palace this afternoon announced that Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who as the king’s eldest child is second in line to the throne, is unconscious due to a heart condition and under medical care.
Amid swirling rumors about the 44-year-old princess’s health, the palace said in a brief statement posted around 3:30pm that she was taken for treatment to the Pak Chong Nana Hospital in the central province of Nakhon Ratchasima and later transported by helicopter to King Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok.
It said her condition was stable “to a certain degree” but did not state what led to her hospitalization.
The princess was in Pak Chong yesterday at a training session for dogs competing in the army’s Working Dog Championship.
Bajrakitiyabha was born in Bangkok’s Dusit Palace on Dec. 7, 1977, to then-Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn and his first wife. Under Thai succession law, she is second in line behind Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti.
She is credited with advocating for better treatment of women behind bars in guidelines eventually adopted by the United Nations and known as the “Bangkok Rules.”
She studied law at Cornell University and had worked as an attorney in the Attorney General’s office since 2006 until last year, when she was made chief of staff in the royal security military unit that operates outside the chain of command. She was given the rank of general.
