After more than three years in a hospital bed, princess Bajrakitiyabha, the eldest daughter of Thai King Rama X, has died. She was 47. With her went the woman long considered the best-prepared heir to the oldest monarchy in this part of the world - and the question of who comes after her now remains wide open.

Her story is brutal precisely because of how ordinarily it began. In December 2022, while training dogs for a competition, she suffered a cardiac collapse. From then until her death - over three years in critical condition, with an infection that spread from the gut into the bloodstream and gradually shut down organ after organ. The hospital said that despite constant care, her condition progressively worsened.

Behind the title stood a biography few royal houses can put on the table. She graduated in international relations and earned a law doctorate at the University of Chicago, was Thailand's ambassador to Austria, worked with UN agencies and for years advocated for women's rights, especially those of prisoners. She was not a princess of the front pages, but of the case files.

The king has ordered a state funeral under the traditional Thai protocol, which lasts at least 100 days, with 15 days of official national mourning and ceremonies beginning at once. For a country where the monarchy is tied to national identity as in few places, a death like this is not just a family loss, but a state pause.

What remains open is the question every monarchy avoids as long as it can - succession. The king's younger son, prince Dipangkorn, is mentioned, but no official heir has been proclaimed. And when the most prepared candidate goes first, the void that remains isn't filled with protocol.