Queen Suthida, the wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, competed in the mixed keelboat SSL47 category.
Thailand’s Queen Suthida during the SSL47 sailing competition at the 33rd SEA Games at Ocean Marina Yacht Club Pattaya in Sattahip District, Chonburi Province, Thailand on Dec 17, 2025. (File photo: Thai Royal Office)
18 Dec 2025 04:01PM (Updated: 18 Dec 2025 04:07PM)
BANGKOK: The queen of Thailand on Thursday (Dec 18) won a gold medal in sailing at the Southeast Asian Games, a regional competition being held in her country this month.
Queen Suthida, the wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, competed in the mixed keelboat SSL47 category, on a 14m sailboat with nine other crew members.
The queen, 47, served as tactician and helmswoman to lead the Thai team to victory in the waters off Pattaya, ahead of Malaysia and Myanmar.
Her gold medal is to be presented to her on Thursday by King Vajiralongkorn, 73, whom she married in 2019.
A communications graduate, Suthida worked as a flight attendant for Thai Airways before embarking on a career in the military.
A keen athlete, she ran a half-marathon in 2:13:40 this month in the capital Bangkok, alongside Kenyan running legend Eliud Kipchoge.
The queen led the Thai delegation at the opening ceremony of the SEA Games on Dec 9 in Bangkok.
Suthida is not the first member of the royal family to win gold in sailing.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the father of Vajiralongkorn, sailed in the fourth edition of the regional Games, held in Thailand in 1967.
Competing in the OK class on a boat he built himself, Bhumibol won a gold medal alongside his eldest daughter, Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya, according to the SEA Games website.
The Games end on Saturday, with host Thailand well ahead in the medal count, followed by Indonesia and Vietnam.
Eleven countries were initially scheduled to take part, but Cambodia withdrew for security reasons after a border conflict with the host country reignited days before the opening ceremony.
