BANGKOK — Thailand’s Queen Mother Sirikit , who supervised royal projects to help the rural poor, preserve traditional craft-making and protect the environment, died on Friday. She was 93.

The Royal Household Bureau said she died in a hospital in Bangkok. Since Oct. 17, she had been suffering from a blood infection but despite her medical team’s efforts, her conditions did not improve. She had been largely absent from public life in recent years due to declining health. Her husband, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, died in October 2016.

People hold portraits of Thailand's former Queen Sirikit as they gather in front of Chulalongkorn Hospital, where she passed away, in Bangkok on Saturday.

Chanakarn Laosarakham / AFP / Getty Images

Photos released by the palace for her 88th birthday showed h

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