Thailands Queen Mother Sirikit, influential style icon, dead at 93

Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit, who brought glamour and elegance to a postwar revival in the country’s monarchy and who, in later years, would occasionally wade into politics, has died aged 93, the Thai Royal Household Bureau said on Saturday.Sirikit had been out of the public eye since a stroke in 2012.The palace said she had been hospitalized since 2019 due to several illnesses and developed a bloodstream infection on October 17 before passing away late on Friday.A mourning period of one year has been declared for members of the royal family and household.The government said public offices would fly flags at half-mast for a month and asked government officials to observe mourning for one year.Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul canceled his trip to the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur due to the Queen Mother’s death.He told reporters he would travel to Malaysia to sign a cease-fire agreement with Cambodia on Sunday but return to Thailand afterward.Sirikit’s husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, was Thailand’s longest-reigning monarch, with 70 years on the throne since 1946.She was at his side for much of that, winning over hearts at home with their charity work.When they traveled abroad, she also charmed the world’s media with her beauty and fashion sense.During a 1960 visit to the United States that included a state dinner at the White House, Time magazine called her “svelte” and “archfeminist.” The French daily L’Aurore described her as “ravishing.”Born in 1932, the year Thailand transitioned to a constitutional monarchy from an absolute monarchy, Sirikit Kitiyakara was the daughter of Thailand’s ambassador to France and led 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,” she said in a BBC documentary, noting that he had arrived late to their first meeting.“Then it was love.”The couple spent...