The late Queen Sirikit and King Bhumibol enjoyed a warm friendship with King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid, which was particularly evident during the 1960s, when the Thai royal couple paid a state visit (1960) and at least two private visits (1961+1966) to Denmark. In turn, King Frederik and Queen Ingrid also made a state visit to Thailand (1962).

Denmark was by no means unfamiliar to Sirikit, as she had lived there for a period in her youth while her father served as ambassador from 1947 to 1950.

Queen Sirikit and King Bhumibol’s friendship with the Danish royal family also came to include Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik, and in September 1966 the two couples unexpectedly shared a rather special experience. On the very day the Thai royal couple were due to arrive in Denmark for a private weekend as guests of King Frederik and Queen Ingrid, a tabloid newspaper broke the sensational news that Princess Margrethe had become privately engaged to Henri de Monpezat, a Frenchman previously unknown to the Danish public. After picking up their foreign guests at the airport, Frederik, Ingrid and Margrethe held an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister, after which the engagement plans were more officially announced. It was then hastily arranged for Henri to come to Copenhagen the following day, making Bhumibol and Sirikit the first foreign royals to meet the future Danish Prince Consort after the engagement. Henri took part in Frederik and Ingrid’s ball at Fredensborg in honour of the Thai King and Queen, and the next evening all of them dined together at a restaurant in Tivoli (joined by Princess Benedikte, Count Flemming and Countess Ruth of Rosenborg, and Count Christian and Countess Karin of Rosenborg).

To stay focused on the 1960s, it can also be noted that Princess Margrethe met King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit several times during her visit to Thailand in 1963. In 1969, she returned to Thailand together with Prince Henrik, though on that occasion they appear to have met only other members of the Thai royal family.

Princess Benedikte paid a private visit to King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit in 1967, and the following year she visited them again, this time with her husband, Prince Richard. The visit to Thailand was part of their honeymoon.