Thai palace says princess on life support in first update since confirming her collapse

The eldest child of Thailand’s king is in stable condition “at a certain level”, said the royal palace in a statement days after the 44-year-old princess lost consciousness.

Princess Bajrakitiyabha Narendira Debyavati, a potential heir to the Thai throne, collapsed last Wednesday with a heart condition in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima.

She is the eldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s three children to bear a formal title.

The princess had taken ill while preparing her dogs for a competition in the province and was soon after flown by helicopter to Chulalongkorn hospital in Bangkok, with doctors using medications and equipment to support her lung, heart and kidney functions.

The princess, however, showed no signs of a heart abnormality after an coronary angiography, as the doctors continued to monitor her condition closely, said the palace’s first statement that confirmed her hospitalisation.

Her “condition is stable at a certain level” and her heartbeat was being controlled by medicine, but her heart contraction was still weak, said the palace. “Doctors administered medicine and the heart, lungs and kidney are being supported by machine,” it added.

Last Friday, prime minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha and many senior officials, along with politicians and religious leaders, visited the Chulalongkorn hospital to wish her a speedy recovery. They also laid orange flowers, a colour associated with the princess and signed a book of well wishes.

Thailand’s Buddhist Supreme Patriarch, Somdet Phra Ariyavangsagatayana, requested all temples at home and abroad to conduct special daily chanting sessions for her well being, said an official announcement from the National Office of Buddhism.

The king, who ascended the throne in 2016, is yet to designate an heir. There has been no official discussion on the prospect of the princess succeeding him.

While a 1924 law on palace succession stipulates the heir to the throne should be male, a constitutional amendment in 1974 allowed for a daughter of the royal line to ascend the throne if a successor had not been named.

Born on 7 December 1978 as the daughter of the king’s first wife Princess Soamsawali, Princess Bajrakitiyabha is a trained lawyer with master and doctorate degrees from Cornell University.

She also served as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia and in roles with the attorney general’s office, the Royal Security Command and as Thai ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

Additional reporting by agencies