Copyright smh
The first of their children – actor, pop singer and, briefly, prime ministerial candidate Princess Ubolratana – was born in 1951. They would have four children in seven years. During this time, Sirikit served as regent for 15 days while her husband followed Thai tradition and entered the monkhood, making her the only woman to have officially served as head of state. The monarchy went from the wilderness at the start of Bhumibol’s reign to a powerful force often spoken of as central to the national identity. Sirikit was important to its success, touring the country at her husband’s side and championing Thai silk on the world stage. Her birthday is observed as mothers’ day in Thailand. Only one of their children was male and therefore eligible for the throne under the rules of the day. The lack of potential heirs and spares has caused lingering dynastic headaches. That boy, Vajiralongkorn, was doted on and indulged by the women of the palace, including his mother, until he was sent abroad for education: first to boarding school in England, then to the King’s School in Sydney and Duntroon in Canberra. Australia was on the royal family’s radar partly because it was an ally in the Vietnam War, and partly because Sirikit and Bhumibol had a positive impression from their royal tour in 1962 which garnered largely fawning press coverage. “All eyes were on the golden Queen”, “That smile of Sirikit”, “Royal visitor’s dazzling new triumph” were typical headlines in Australian newspapers and magazines, which even mentioned an unscheduled trip to the dentist and the government Rolls-Royce reaching 85 miles an hour (137 km/h) as it whisked the royals along the highway between Toowoomba and Brisbane. Protests at Thailand’s military dictatorship, then under the rule of a particularly venal junta leader, garnered far fewer column inches than descriptions of Sirikit’s clothes. “The petite Asian queen wore a full-length diamond mink coat over an ivory white wool dress trimmed with matching braid, and with it a white leather pillbox hat,” The Sun-Herald reported of one of many outfits. “Her handbag, shoes and stockings were a whisky brown. Her jewellery was a five-strand necklace of magnificent pearls, a pearl bracelet and, an evident favourite of hers, pearly and diamond earrings.”
