BANGKOK ¨C The yearlong funeral ceremony of Thailand¡¯s former Queen Sirikit started Sunday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok¡¯s Grand Palace.
Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide.
Former queen Sirikit, the mother of current King Vajiralongkorn and wife of the nation¡¯s longest-reigning monarch, died late Friday at the age of 93.
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