Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall is an important site where His Majesty the King ordered the Royal Household Bureau to conduct the royal funeral of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit the Queen Mother, conferring the highest royal honors according to tradition and placing the royal remains within this throne hall in the Grand Palace.
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit the Queen Mother passed away peacefully on Friday, 24 October 2025 GMT+7 at 21:21 at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, at the age of 93. She had been ill with a bloodstream infection, and medical staff provided their utmost care.
Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall is a significant palace within the middle court of the Grand Palace. Situated west of Chakri Maha Prasat Throne Hall, it functions as a venue for important royal ceremonies and serves as a center for the Siamese royal court's customs from the early Rattanakosin period to the present.
King Phutthayotfa Chulalok the Great ordered its construction in 1789 CE on the former site of the Amarintharaphisek Maha Prasat Throne Hall, which had been struck by lightning and burned. It was established as the main throne hall for royal audiences and state affairs before later serving partly as a site for royal ceremonies and as a traditional location for enshrining royal remains.
Architecturally, it is a four-sided prang-style palace built of brick and stucco, with tiered tiled roofs adorned with chofah, bai raka, hang hong, and garuda–naga motifs along the eaves and apex. These traditional Thai artistic details symbolize the cosmic order and the deity Vishnu mounted on Garuda, marking the palace as a masterful Rattanakosin-era craftsmanship.
The front plan features a prominent porch for royal audiences, with the Bussabok Mala Throne placed centrally for the monarch’s appearances to the public. The rear connects to the Phiman Rattaya Throne Hall via a corridor called Muk Krasan, a long hall for welcoming and sending off the monarch, linking the middle and inner courts into a unified complex.
Inside the palace are important royal artifacts such as the pearl-inlaid royal throne, topped by the nine-tiered great white umbrella symbolizing royal authority, and the similarly pearl-inlaid state throne built during King Rama I’s reign, used to enshrine sacred objects during major royal ceremonies. The Bussabok Mala Throne was also used to carry the statue of Phra Siam Devadhiraj during the 200th Anniversary of Rattanakosin ceremony in 1982 CE.
Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall is best known as the traditional site for enshrining royal and princely remains. Recently, it housed the royal remains of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great from 2016 to 2017 to allow the public to pay their respects.
During the Rattanakosin coronation ceremony, His Majesty the King pays homage to the royal relics of his royal ancestors at Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall before proceeding to other rites, symbolizing a ceremonial space that connects the royal past and present within one location.
The name "Dusit" carries symbolic meaning, referring to the fourth heaven in Buddhist cosmology, the abode of Bodhisattvas before attaining enlightenment. It represents auspiciousness, supremacy, and moral perfection, qualities reflected in the role and rituals performed in this throne hall.
With its rich history, distinguished architecture, and ongoing ceremonial use, Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall is not only an exquisite masterpiece of craftsmanship but also a living repository of Thai social memory, embodying faith, loyalty, and the artistic wisdom of the nation in one place.