<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/thailand" rel="" target="" title="Thailand’s"><span>Thailand’s</span></a><span> Queen Mother Sirikit, who supervised royal projects to help the rural poor, preserve traditional craft-making and protect the environment, died on Friday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She was 93.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Royal Household Bureau said she died in a hospital in Bangkok, adding that she began suffering from a blood infection on October 17 and despite her medical team’s efforts, her condition did not improve.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/south-east-queensland-total-fire-ban/d661fb00-173d-45d6-87eb-2893c95eb3fc" target="_blank"><strong><span>Tens of thousands without power post-storm as fire danger surges</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She suffered a stroke in 2012 and was afterwards largely absent from public life due to declining health.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her husband, </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/thailand-s-extravagant-five-day-farewell-to-dead-king/b840a76f-3334-4252-964d-425e8e010ba0" rel="" target="" title="King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in October 2016."><span>King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in October 2016.</span></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The bureau's statement said King Maha Vajiralongkorn had directed that she be given a funeral with the highest honors, and that he had instructed members of the royal family and royal servants to observe mourning for one year.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/thailand-queen-mother-sirikit-has-died-at-age-93/8ce7f3e9-f07b-4921-b0d7-2ad4636187d6" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mourners gathered outside Chulalongkorn Hospital on Saturday morning after hearing the news.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“It is yet again another great loss for the whole nation. I heard about it at am. I felt like fainting. The whole world seemed like it had stopped," said 67-year-old Maneerat Laowalert.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Saturday that Sirikit's passing was “a great loss for the country.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He said the national flag will fly half-staff at all government agencies for 30 days, and civil servants will observe mourning for one year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Although overshadowed by her late husband and her son, the current king, Sirikit was beloved and influential in her own right.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her portrait was displayed in homes, offices and public spaces across Thailand and her August 12 birthday was celebrated as Mother’s Day.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/russia-tests-new-nuclear-cruise-missile-putin-says/986d0c5c-fe8a-4037-af11-bad957700b56" target="_blank"><strong><span>Putin fires warning shot at the world with incredible new 'super weapon'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her activities ranged from helping Cambodian refugees to saving some of the country's once-lush forests from destruction.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Thai monarchy traditionally has avoided playing an open role in politics, but in recent decades of political upheaval, marked by two military takeovers and several rounds of bloody street protests, speculation grew about Sirikit’s views and her behind the scenes influence.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When she publicly attended the 2008 funeral of a protester killed during a clash with police, many saw it as her taking a side in the political schism.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Sirikit met the king while living in Europe</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Sirikit Kitiyakara was born into a rich, aristocratic family in Bangkok on August 12, 1932, the year absolute monarchy was replaced by a constitutional system.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Both of her parents were related to earlier kings of the current Chakri dynasty.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She attended schools in wartime Bangkok, the target of Allied air raids, and after World War II moved with her diplomat father to France where he served as ambassador.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>At 16, she met Thailand’s newly crowned king in Paris, where she was studying music and languages.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Their friendship blossomed after Bhumibol suffered a near-fatal car accident and she moved to Switzerland, where he was studying, to help care for him. The king courted her with poetry and composed a waltz titled, </span><em><span>I Dream of You.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/louvre-museum-robbery-suspects-arrested-over-theft-of-crown-jewels/2f3f79a9-725a-46c8-8c5a-304cd3f28f3b" target="_blank"><strong><span>Suspects arrested over theft of crown jewels from Paris' Louvre museum</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The pair married in 1950, and at a coronation ceremony later the same year both vowed to "reign with righteousness for the benefit and happiness of the Siamese (Thai) people."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The couple had four children: current King Maha Vajiralongkorn, and princesses Ubolratana, Sirindhorn and Chulabhorn.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>During their early married life, the Thai royals crisscrossed the world as goodwill ambassadors and forged personal ties with world leaders.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>A turn to Thailand's rural areas</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But by the early 1970s, the king and queen turned most of their energies to Thailand's domestic problems, including rural poverty, opium addiction in hill tribes and a communist insurgency.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The queen, an impeccable dresser and avid shopper, also relished climbing hills and visiting simple villages where older women would call her "daughter."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Thousands raised their problems to her, ranging from marital squabbles to serious diseases, and the queen and her assistants took up many personally.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While some in Bangkok gossiped about her involvement in palace intrigues and her lavish lifestyle, her popularity in the countryside endured.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Misunderstandings arise between people in rural areas and the rich, so-called civilized people in Bangkok. People in rural Thailand say they are neglected, and we try to fill that gap by staying with them in remote areas," she said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1979.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Royal development projects were set up across Thailand, some of them initiated and directly supervised by the queen.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 1976, the queen launched a foundation to promote Thai traditional handcrafts.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The SUPPORT foundation has trained thousands of villagers in crafts including silk-weaving, jewelry-making, painting and ceramics.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She also set up wildlife breeding centers, "open zoos," and hatcheries to save endangered sea turtles.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her Forest Loves Water and Little House in the Forest projects sought to demonstrate the economic gains of preserving forest cover and water sources.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While royalty elsewhere had only ceremonial or symbolic roles, Queen Sirikit believed the monarchy was a vital institution in Thailand.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"There are some in the universities who think the monarchy is obsolete. But I think Thailand needs an understanding monarch," she said in the 1979 interview. "At the call, ‘The king is coming,’ thousands will gather.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The mere word king has something magic in it. It is wonderful."</span></div></div>