The Thai government approved the enormous budget yesterday (08.01.08) following the cabinet's weekly meeting, with the money coming from funds set aside for emergency purposes.
Thailand's Princess Galyani Vadhana's funeral will cost almost $9 million.
The Thai government approved the enormous budget yesterday (08.01.08) following the cabinet's weekly meeting, with the money coming from funds set aside for emergency purposes.
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont announced: "The cabinet has approved an initial budget of 300 million baht ($8.9 million) for the royal cremation rite."
The princess died last Wednesday (02.01.08) aged 84, following six months in Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital where she was being treated for abdominal cancer.
Chulanont will head a 39-person funerary panel who will decide on the arrangements for the funeral, which is expected to take place in five or six months time.
Much of the budget will be devoted to an enormous pyre - a structure used for burning a body as part of a funeral rite - which will take four months to build.
A team of craftsmen have already started work on producing a set of chariots to carry the royal remains, while there have already been designs drawn up for a crematorium to be built in the style of a Thai pavilion with four porticos and a seven-tiered spire.
Money will also be spent building pavilions and halls in Bangkoki's Sana Luang Park, near the Grand Palace, in remembrance of the life and work of the princess.
Last week, the government declared 15 days of mourning, ordered flags to be flown at half-mast and asked Thailand's 66 million people to wear black or white and refrain from entertainment.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the princess' elder brother, also declared 100 days of mourning in the Grand Palace.
Princess Galyani Vadhana
Royal
