The news from Bangkok arrives with the weight of a fallen dynasty. HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha, daughter of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, has died after three years in a coma. The cause? A heart attack suffered while training her dogs. It is a prosaic end for a woman who might have been queen, but then again, the universe has a dark sense of humour. The British press, ever eager for a royal tragedy that does not involve their own tax-subsidised soap opera, have declared a period of mourning. But let us not mistake diplomatic nicety for genuine grief. What we are witnessing is the slow, dignified death of monarchy as a meaningful institution, both in Bangkok and in London.
Consider the parallels. Princess Bajrakitiyabha was a lawyer, a diplomat, a woman of intellect in a court that prizes obedience. Her coma, like the suspended animation of the Thai monarchy itself, was a state of waiting. Waiting for what? A restoration of prestige? A new role in a modernising nation? Instead, she slipped away, leaving a vacuum that her father, a king who prefers Bavarian villas to palace duties, cannot fill. Meanwhile, in Britain, King Charles III shuffles through ceremonies with the enthusiasm of a man who knows his role is ornamental. The real power has long since migrated to elected buffoons and bureaucrats. Monarchy, once the spine of national identity, is now a prosthetic limb.
The Thai royal family, for all its wealth and reverence, has been in a protracted decline since the death of King Bhumibol in 2016. The late princess was seen as a potential bridge between the old guard and a restive populace. Her death, coinciding with a political crisis that has seen the popular Move Forward Party crushed by judicial coup, signals that the monarchy’s grip on Thailand’s imagination is loosening. The British, ever sentimental about crowns, rush to pay tribute. But let us be honest: what Britain mourns is not a Thai princess, but the idea of monarchy itself. The same idea that props up their own House of Windsor, a family whose scandals and squabbles have become a national pastime.
The Victorian era, which I am so fond of referencing, understood monarchy as a moral anchor. Today, it is a tourist attraction. Princess Bajrakitiyabha’s death is a reminder that even the most beloved royals are mortal. The question is whether their institutions can survive the transition. In Thailand, the answer is uncertain; in Britain, it is simply irrelevant. The world has moved on to more pressing concerns: climate change, war in Europe, artificial intelligence. The age of kings and queens is over. We are just too polite to say it. So pour out a glass of something strong for the princess. She deserved better than a canine-induced coma and a footnote in history. Her legacy? A cautionary tale for any nation that confuses pageantry with power.
