Who Is Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya? Thai Royal Enters Prime Ministerial Race

Thailand’s Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi was announced as a prime ministerial candidate for the country’s upcoming general election.

Political party Thai Raksa Chart Party made the announcement Friday, the last day of registration, confirming the rumors doing the rounds that the 67-year-old elder sister of Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn would join politics under the banner. With the announcement, Princess Ubolratana became the first person from the royal family to get directly involved in politics and run for office in the history of the country.

The party had initially said “an important person outside the party” would be nominated.

Speaking to reporters after registering her name at the election commission's office on Friday, the party’s leader Preechapol Pongpanich said, “She has agreed to be our candidate and given her experiences within Thailand and abroad, we believe she is the appropriate candidate. We play by the rules, everything we do complies with the law. There’s no privilege or exclusive right,” the South China Morning Post reported.

"The party has nominated the princess as its sole candidate. She is knowledgeable and is highly suitable. I believe there will be no legal problems in terms of her qualification, but we have to wait for the Election Commission to endorse her candidacy,” he added, Channel News Asia reported.

Princess Ubolratana was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and was brought back to Thailand before her first birthday. She studied mathematics and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She then went on to earn a masters degree in public health from the University of California. She married her fellow MIT student Peter Jensen in 1972 after which she was stripped of her royal title.

Though she returned to Thailand three decades later after getting a divorce from her husband, she never regained her full royal titles. She was, however, treated as royalty by people of the country. The princess has two children, Ploypailin Jensen and Sirikitiya Jensen. The third child, Bhumi Jensen, died in the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

Meanwhile, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the current prime minister, too announced his candidacy for the pro-army Palang Pracharat party. Prayuth made himself the prime minister by seizing power from Yingluck Shinawatra after the military toppled her administration in 2014.

Speaking about Princess Ubolratana’s candidacy, Paul Chambers, a lecturer at Thailand’s Naresuan University College of ASEAN Community Studies, said, “This is unprecedented for Thailand. It’ll be difficult for parties to run against the princess. It’ll be hard for anyone to campaign against her. Voters would find it difficult to choose someone that’s not part of her party, because Thai ideology puts the royals at the top,” Bloomberg reported.

The election is scheduled to be held on March 24.