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Norodom Sihanouk

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Norodom Sihanouk
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(born Oct. 31, 1922, Phnom Penh, Camb.) Cambodia's king (1941 – 55 and 1993 – 2004); he also held other posts. He abdicated in favour of his father in 1955, becoming his father's prime minister; he became head of state on his father's death in 1960. During the Vietnam War he steered a neutral course between the radical right and left in both his foreign and internal policies. Overthrown by Lon Nol in 1970, he campaigned for the Khmer Rouge but was imprisoned after they came to power, and most of his family was killed. Released in the face of a Vietnamese invasion (1979), he denounced both the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge. In 1982 he became president of a fragile coalition of resistance groups. Following UN-sponsored elections in 1993, Cambodia's National Assembly voted to restore the monarchy, and Sihanouk again became king. He abdicated on Oct. 7, 2004, and his son Norodom Sihamoni, chosen to succeed him, was crowned king on October 29.

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Biography: Prince Norodom Sihanouk
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A Cambodian nationalist and political leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk (born 1922) secured Cambodia's independence from French colonial rule and sought to protect his country from the repercussions of Great Power rivalries.

The first of the four children of Prince Norodom Suramarit and Princess Monivong Kossamak, Prince Norodom Sihanouk was born in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Oct. 31, 1922. He was a direct descendant of the great 19th-century King Norodom, who was succeeded upon his death in 1904 by a half brother rather than a son. The colonial French encouraged Sihanouk's selection as king in 1941 because they feared the outspokenly nationalist heir apparent of the line of King Norodom's half brother. Sihanouk, who already enjoyed a reputation as a playboy, was picked because the French perceived him as pliable.

Sihanouk was raised in a quite modest environment by his musically talented parents, in whose footsteps he partly followed as an accomplished saxophonist. Educated in French at an ordinary day school in Phnom Penh, Sihanouk was subsequently sent to a secondary school in Saigon in Vietnam, which, like Cambodia, was then part of French Indochina. He did not complete his secondary schooling, however - let alone continue on to a university - because of his recall to Phnom Penh in 1941, at the age of 18, to be enthroned as king.

Sihanouk's coronation took place 10 months after the fall of France, whose Indochinese empire fell under the practical direction of the expanding Japanese - who controlled neighboring Vietnam and Laos. During the first years of his reign as king, Sihanouk was a prisoner in his own palace. Although he subsequently proclaimed Cambodian independence from France in March 1945, encouraged by the retreating Japanese, he came fairly quickly to terms with the returning French after the war. He also opposed demands by the national legislatures elected in 1947 and 1951 for a redeclaration of independence from France.

Emergent Nationalist

Somewhat surprisingly, in light of his dissolutionof a legislature that demanded immediate independence, Sihanouk proceeded to France to advance this very demand. Rebuffed by the French, he went into exile in Thailand in 1953, successfully embarrassing France into acquiescence to his country's independence. This independence was in effect completed in 1954 with the Geneva Agreements, which terminated the 8-year Franco-Indochinese War. This war was fought largely in adjacent Vietnam, but there were a few Vietnamese Communist partisans in Cambodia and a handful of Cambodian sympathizers. Sihanouk held up final approval of the Geneva Agreements until his demand for the complete withdrawal of the Vietnamese Communists from his country was met.

Sihanouk accepted American military and economic assistance after the end of the First Vietnamese War (1945-1954) and even initially sought to join the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO). He terminated United States aid in 1963, however - and broke off diplomatic relations in 1965 (resumed in 1969) - because of the spillover into Cambodia of American war activity in adjacent South Vietnam and American diplomatic support of (and military aid to) another neighbor and historical foe, Thailand.

Monarchy without a King

Although he was still king when independence came, Sihanouk stepped down as monarch in 1955 in order to play a more active day-to-day role in Cambodian politics. He was succeeded on the throne by his father. The mercurial Sihanouk served a half dozen times as premier in the years 1955-1960, frequently resigning from the post for one reason or another, and became "chief of state" in 1960 - shortly after the death of his father, the king. Although Cambodia continued to call itself a monarchy and was led by a former king - Sihanouk - it was the only monarchy in the world without a ruling sovereign.

Sihanouk formed the Popular Socialist Community party after his abdication as a means of preserving his political preeminence. This party won all the seats in the National Assembly vote of 1955 and subsequent elections throughout the 1960s, making Cambodia a one-party state in terms of representation in its government, and Sihanouk the political, if not reigning, king. The outbreak of North Vietnamese-encouraged Communist rebellion on Cambodian soil in 1967, however, indicated that there was at least this kind of opposition to Sihanouk's continued control of Cambodian political life.

For the first decade and a half of Cambodia's resumed independence, Sihanouk symbolized his nation to both his countrymen and the world beyond Cambodia. A devout Buddhist, he also sought to modernize his country's traditional agricultural economy, accepting aid from all quarters (until his termination of United States assistance in 1963). Assuming the posture of an outspoken neutralist in the second half of the 1950s, he tried both to restrict the role of the Great Powers in his country and to block the extension of the Vietnam War to Cambodia - with a surprising degree of success. He visited Peking, and he even recognized the Communist "Provisional Revolutionary Government" (Vietcong) in South Vietnam in 1969.

On March 18, 1970, while Sihanouk was returning from a health cure in France via Moscow, he and his government were overthrown by Lt. Gen. Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak. This pro-Western coup resulted in Sihanouk's forming a government-in-exile in Peking and in the declaration of Cambodia as a republic. At that time he also announced his support of the Cambodian Communist Khmer Rouge under General Pol Pot in their efforts to overthrow Lon Nol.

In 1975 Lon Nol's government was overthrown by the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk was returned to his position as head of state. In 1976, however, he was placed under house arrest by Pol Pot who assumed control of the government as the country's prime minister. In 1979, the Khmer Rouge government fell when the North Vietnamese invaded and occupied the country. Pol Pot and his allies fled to southwestern Cambodia and engaged in guerilla warfare against the new Vietnamese-backed government, while Sihanouk fled once again into exile in China, where he remained for 12 years. There he formed a coalition government-in-exile composed of royalists, rightists, and the Khmer Rouge. His government-in-exile in China succeeded in gaining a seat at the United Nations as the legitimate government of Cambodia.

In 1989, the Vietnamese withdrew and left behind a pro-Vietnamese government under Prime Minister Hun Sen. Sihanouk and Hun Sen began negotiations for his return. In 1991, Sihanouk returned to Cambodia and became president. He repudiated the Khmer Rouge at that point, denounced them as criminals, and called for the arrest and trial of their leaders. The Khmer Rouge returned to its position of armed opposition. In a U.N.-sponsored election in 1993, Sihanouk's royalist party was elected to power and approved a new constitution that reestabished the monarchy. In September 1993 Sihanouk was again crowned king of Cambodia. He governed with two co-prime ministers, his son Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen.

In 1996 the Khmer Rouge splintered apart. The moderate faction defected to Sihanouk and hard-liners under Pol Pot continued guerilla warfare from the mountain jungles. In June 1997, following a disintegration of leadership in the Khmer Rouge, fighting broke out between forces loyal to the two co-prime ministers. In early July, Norodom Ranariddh was deposed by Hun Sen.

Further Reading

The personality and views of Prince Sihanouk emerge strongly in John P. Armstrong, Sihanouk Speaks (1964), a book which quotes Sihanouk at considerable length on a wide range of subjects. In 1995 Sihanouk himself published Charisma and Leadership in which he describes his personal encounters with some of the great leaders of the twentieth century. Politics and Power in Cambodia: The Sihanouk Years (1973) and Sihanouk: Prince of Light, Prince of Darkness (1994) both by Milton E. Osborne offer useful information and insights. Cambodia: The Search for Security (1967), by British scholar Michael Leiffer, is a perceptive study of Cambodian foreign policy, highlighting Sihanouk's dominant role in its formation and execution. An earlier and still very useful book on the same subject, which gives an illuminating portrait of Sihanouk in action, is Roger Morton Smith, Cambodia's Foreign Policy (1965). Martin Florian Herz, A Short History of Cambodia (1958), is a good, if very brief, introduction to Cambodian history.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Norodom Sihanouk
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Sihanouk, Norodom (nōrōdŭm' sĭhənŭk'), 1922-, king of Cambodia (1941-55, 1993-2004). Sihanouk was educated in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and Paris and was elected king by a royal council in 1941. During World War II he was held a virtual prisoner by Japanese occupation forces. After the war he adopted (1947) a constitution that made Cambodia a limited monarchy and achieved (1949) some autonomy for his country within the French Union. Following the first elections (1950), however, Sihanouk dissolved the assembly and ruled by decree. He became prime minister as well as king in 1951 and appointed a cabinet made up largely of members of the royal family. He campaigned for complete independence, which was finally granted in 1953.

In 1955 he abdicated in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit, but retained the premiership and control of the Popular Socialist Community party, which he had founded. As premier he took Cambodia out of the French Union. After his father's death (1960) he again became head of state, although not king. Initially neutral in foreign affairs, he broke (1965) diplomatic relations with the United States when Cambodians were killed during South Vietnamese and U.S. incursions in the Vietnam War.

In Mar., 1970, Sihanouk was overthrown by a rightist coup led by Lon Nol, who opposed his policy of allowing Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops to use Cambodian territory. He set up a government in exile in Beijing. When the Khmer Rouge won control of Cambodia, Sihanouk returned (1975) as head of state but in 1976 was placed under house arrest. In 1981-82, once again in exile, he forged a coalition with the Khmer Rouge and others to oppose the Cambodian government imposed by the Vietnamese after their 1978 invasion. After a UN-sponsored peace treaty came into effect (1991), Sihanouk returned to Cambodia, now allied with Premier Hun Sen and opposed to the Khmer Rouge. He became head of state (1991) and, under a new constitution, king (1993). He abdicated in 2004 in favor of his son Norodom Sihamoni.

Bibliography

See his memoirs, My War With the CIA (1973); see also J. Lacouture, The Demigods (tr. 1970).

Wikipedia: Norodom Sihanouk
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Norodom Sihanouk
Billboard of King Norodom Sihanouk at Angkor International Airport
King of Cambodia (Colonial Cambodia) (1st Term)
Reign 25 April 1941 – 2 March 1955
Coronation September 1941
Predecessor Sisowath Monivong
Successor Norodom Suramarit
King of Cambodia (2nd Term)
Reign 24 September 1993 – 7 October 2004
Predecessor Chea Sim
Successor Norodom Sihamoni
Spouse 7 wives
Issue
14 children
Full name
Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Preahmâhaviraksat
House House of Norodom
Father Norodom Suramarit
Mother Sisowath Kosamak
Born 31 October 1922 (1922-10-31) (age 87)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Religion Buddhism
Norodom Sihanouk
In office
18 March 1945 – 13 August 1945
Preceded by Position created
Succeeded by Son Ngoc Thanh
In office
28 April 1950 – 30 May 1950
Preceded by Yem Sambaur
Succeeded by Samdech Krom Luong Sisowath Monipong
In office
16 June 1952 – 24 January 1953
Preceded by Huy Kanthoul
Succeeded by Penn Nouth
In office
7 April 1954 – 18 April 1954
Preceded by Chan Nak
Succeeded by Penn Nouth
In office
3 October 1955 – 5 January 1956
Preceded by Leng Ngeth
Succeeded by Oum Chheang Sun
In office
1 March 1956 – 24 March 1956
Preceded by Oum Chheang Sun
Succeeded by Khim Tit
In office
15 September 1956 – 15 October 1956
Preceded by Khim Tit
Succeeded by Sam Yun
In office
9 April 1957 – 7 July 1957
Preceded by Sam Yun
Succeeded by Sim Var
In office
3 April 1960 – 19 April 1960
Preceded by Himself
(as PM of Independent Kingdom of Cambodia
Succeeded by Pho Proeung
Political party Independent
Profession Politician
Cambodia

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King Norodom Sihanouk Sihanouk3.png regular script Sihanouk4.png (born 31 October 1922) was the King of Cambodia until his abdication on 7 October 2004. He is now "King-Father (Khmer: Preahmâhaviraksat) of Cambodia," a position in which he retains many of his former responsibilities as constitutional King.

The son of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Sisowath Kossamak, Sihanouk has held so many positions since 1941 that the Guinness Book of World Records identifies him as the politician who has served the world's greatest variety of political offices.[1] These included two terms as King, two as sovereign prince, one as president, two as prime minister, and one as Cambodia's non-titled head of state, as well as numerous positions as leader of various governments-in-exile.

Most of these positions were only honorific, including the last position as constitutional King of Cambodia. Norodom Sihanouk's actual period of effective rule over Cambodia was from 9 November 1953 (full independence granted to Cambodia) to 18 March 1970 (Lon Nol and the National Assembly depose Sihanouk).

Contents

Names and titles

Since his abdication, Sihanouk's official Cambodian title is:
Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Preahmâhaviraksat

In Khmer:
Sihanouk5.pngSihanouk3.pngSihanouk6.png

The literal translation of the title :

  • Preah ("sacred,")
  • Karuna ("compassionate," referring to the Buddhist concept karuna)
  • Bat ("foot", from Sanskrit pāda, cognate to Latin pes, pedis, French pied)
  • Sâmdech ("lord, prince, excellency")
  • Preah ("sacred")
  • Norodom (given name of Norodom of Cambodia, used as a family name by his descendants. from Narottam in Sanskrit meaning best in quality (Uttam) among men(Nar).
  • Sihanouk (given name of Sihanouk; it is a contraction of siha-, "lion," from Sanskrit siṃha, cognate of singa- in Singapore; and -hanouk, from Sanskrit hanu, "jaws")
  • Preahmâhaviraksat (preah, "sacred"; -mâha-, Sanskrit "great," maha- in maharaja; -vira-, Sanskrit vīra "brave or eminent man; hero; chief," this Sanskrit word is cognate to many words in Latin like vir, viris, English virile; -ksat, "warrior, ruler," cognate of the Indian word Kshatriya).

The word "father" does not appear in the Cambodian title, but in Western languages his title is translated as "his Majesty King-Father Norodom Sihanouk," to distinguish from the title of his son the new King, which is "his Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni."

Despite the great ritualism surrounding the Cambodian monarchy, Sihanouk has always maintained close relations with the Cambodian people, and when addressing him, or talking about him, they most often call him Sihanouk9.png, Sâmdech Euv, which literally means "Prince Dad," "My Lord Dad" (French: Monseigneur Papa).

Early life

King Norodom Sihanouk received his primary education in a Phnom Penh primary school. He pursued his secondary education in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam at "Lycée Chasseloup Laubat" until his coronation and then later attended Cavalry military school in Saumur, France. When his maternal grandfather, King Sisowath Monivong, died on 23 April 1941, the Crown Council selected Prince Sihanouk as King of Cambodia. At that time, Cambodia was part of French Indochina. His coronation took place on September 1941.

Leadership turmoil

Prime Minister

Main articles: Cambodia under Sihanouk (1954–1970) and Cambodian Civil War

After World War II and into the early 1950s, King Sihanouk's aspirations became much more nationalistic and he began demanding independence from the French colonists and their complete departure from Indochina. This echoed the sentiments of the other fledgling nations of French Indochina: the State of Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the Kingdom of Laos. He went into exile in Thailand in May 1953 because of threats on his life by the French and only returned when independence was granted on 9 November 1953. On 2 March 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father, established the Sangkum and took the post of Prime Minister a few months later, after having obtained an overwhelming victory in the parliamentary elections on September 1955. Following his father's death in 1960, he won general election as head of state, but received the title of prince rather than King. In 1963, he made a change in the constitution that made him head of state for life. While he was not officially crowned as King, he had created a constitutional office for himself that was exactly equal to that of the former kingship.

Meeting in Beijing: from left Mao Zedong, Peng Zhen, Sihanouk, Liu Shaoqi

When the Vietnam War raged, Sihanouk promoted policies that he claimed to preserve Cambodia's neutrality and most importantly security. While he in many cases sided with his neighbors, pressures upon his government from all sides in the conflict were immense, and his overriding concern was to prevent Cambodia from being drawn into a wider regional war. In so doing he made difficult choices of alliances in pursuit of the least dangerous course of action, within a political environment where genuine neutrality was likely impossible at the time. In the spring of 1965, he made a pact with the People's Republic of China (China) and North Vietnam to allow the presence of permanent North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia and to allow military supplies from China to reach Vietnam by Cambodian ports. Cambodia and Cambodian individuals were compensated by Chinese purchases of the Cambodian rice crop by China at inflated prices. He also at this time made many speeches calling the triumph of Communism in Southeast Asia inevitable and suggesting Maoist ideas were worthy of emulation. In 1966 and 1967, Sihanouk unleashed a wave of political repression that drove many on the left out of mainstream politics. His policy of friendship with China collapsed due to the extreme attitudes in China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. The combination of political repression and problems with China made his balancing act impossible to sustain. He had alienated the left, allowed the North Vietnamese to establish bases within Cambodia and staked everything on China's good will. On 11 March 1967, a revolt in Battambang Province led to the Cambodian Civil War.

Deposed, exile, return

On 18 March 1970, while Sihanouk was traveling out of the country, Lon Nol, the Prime Minister, convened the National Assembly which voted to depose Sihanouk as head of state. Emergency powers were given to Lon Nol and with the support from the Americans, the Khmer Republic was created. Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak retained his post as Deputy Prime Minister. In 1941, the Prince had been passed over by the French government in favor of his cousin Norodom Sihanouk's leadership role.

After he was deposed, Sihanouk fled to Beijing, formed the National United Front of Kampuchea (Front Uni National du Kampuchéa - FUNK) and began to support the Khmer Rouge in their struggle to overthrow the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh. He initiated the Gouvernement Royal d'Union Nationale du Kampuchéa (Royal Kampuchean National union Government), which included Khmer Rouge leaders. After Sihanouk showed his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the new recruits for the Khmer Rouge were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the King, not for communism, of which they had little understanding. King Sihanouk believed they were doing a good deed for him, he had no idea they were going to betray him. He would later argue (1979) that the monarchy being abolished, he was only fighting for his country's independence, 'even if [his] country had to be Communist.'[2] During Lon Nol's regime, Sihanouk mostly lived in exile in North Korea, where a 60-room palatial residence which even had an indoor movie theater, was built for him. He would later return to his Pyongyang palace after 1979 Vietnamese invasion[3].

In Khmer Rouge captivity

When the Khmer Republic fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, Prince Sihanouk became the symbolic head of state of the new régime while Pol Pot remained in power. Sihanouk, who had imagined living like a retired country gentleman and perhaps being 'a public relations man for [his] country and have [...] jazz parties and do some filming'[4] was to spend the next few years virtually as a hostage of the Khmer Rouge. The next year, on 4 April 1976, the Khmer Rouge forced Sihanouk out of office again and into political retirement. During the Vietnamese invasion, he was sent to New York to speak against Vietnam before the United Nations. After his speech, he sought refuge in China and in North Korea.

The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December 1978 ousted the Khmer Rouge. While welcoming the ousting of the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime, he remained firmly opposed to the Vietnamese-installed Heng Samrin government of People's Republic of Kampuchea. Hence, Sihanouk demanded Cambodia's seat in the UN be left vacant, since neither Pol Pot regime nor Heng Samrin represented the Khmer people[5]. Although claiming to be wary of the Khmer Rouge and demanding that the Khmer Rouge representatives that still held Cambodia's UN seat be expelled[6], Sihanouk again joined forces with them in order to provide a united front against the Vietnamese occupation. It has been argued that one of the reasons was the US pressure to work with the Khmer Rouge[7]. In 1982, he moved completely into opposition of the Vietnam-supported government, becoming president of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which consisted of his own Funcinpec party, Son Sann's KPNLF, and the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, leaving behind a pro-Vietnamese government under ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen to run the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).

United States support

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sihanouk's opposition forces drew limited military and financial support from the United States, which sought to assist his movement as part of the Reagan Doctrine effort to counter Soviet and Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia. One of the Reagan Doctrine's principal architects, the Heritage Foundation's Michael Johns, visited with Sihanouk's forces in Cambodia in 1987, and returned to Washington urging expanded U.S. support for the KPLNF and Sihanouk's resistance forces as a third alternative to both the Vietnamese-installed and supported Cambodian government and the Khmer Rouge, which also was resisting the government.[8]

Restoration as king

Peace negotiations between the CGDK and the PRK commenced shortly thereafter and continued until 1991 when all sides agreed to a comprehensive settlement which they signed in Paris. Prince Sihanouk returned once more to Cambodia on 14 November 1991 after thirteen years in exile.

In 1993, Sihanouk once again became King of Cambodia. During the restoration, however, he suffered from ill health and traveled repeatedly to Beijing for medical treatment.

Sihanouk's leisure interests include music (he has composed songs in Khmer, French, and English) and film. He has become a prodigious filmmaker over the years, directing many movies and orchestrating musical compositions. He became one of the first heads of state in the region to have a personal website, which has proven a cult hit. It draws more than a thousand visitors a day, which constitutes a substantial portion of his nation's Internet users. Royal statements are posted there daily.

Exile and abdication

Sihanouk went into self-imposed exile in January 2004, taking up residence in Pyongyang, North Korea[9] and later in Beijing, China. Citing reasons of ill health, he announced his abdication of the throne on 7 October 2004. Sihanouk was diagnosed with B-Cell Lymphoma in his prostate in 1993; the disease recurred in his stomach in 2005, and a new cancer was found in December 2008. Sihanouk also suffers from diabetes and hypertension.[10]

The constitution of Cambodia has no provision for an abdication. Chea Sim, the President of the Senate, assumed the title of acting Head of State (a title he has held many times before), until the throne council met on 14 October and appointed Norodom Sihamoni, one of Sihanouk's sons, as the new King.

Family

Sihanouk reportedly has had several wives and concubines, producing at least fourteen children in a period of eleven years. According to Time (30 June 1956), however, his only legal wives have been Princess Samdech Norleak (married 1955) and Paule Monique Izzi (married 1955), who is a step-granddaughter of HRH Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia and the younger daughter of Pomme Peang and her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a banker. A profile of Sihanouk in The New York Times (4 June 1993, page A8) stated that the King met Monique Izzi in 1951, when he awarded her a prize in a beauty pageant.

According to Royal Ark's genealogy of the Cambodian royal family, however, Sihanouk has been married seven times, his consorts being:[1]

  1. Neak Moneang Phat Kanhol (1920-1969, a member of the Royal Cambodian Ballet; married 1942, later divorced)
  2. HRH Princess Sisowath Pongsanmoni (1929-1974; married 1942, divorced 1951)
    • HRH Samdech Borom Reamea Norodom Yuvaneath (1943-)
    • HRH Samdech Norodom Racvivong Sihanouk (1944-1973)
    • Samdech Preah Mohesarra Norodom Chakrapong (1945-)
    • HRH Samdech Princess Norodom Sorya Roeungsay (1947-1976)
    • HRH Princess Norodom Kantha Bopha (1948-1952)
    • HRH Samdech Norodom Khemanourak Sihanouk (1949-1975)
    • HRH Samdech Princess Norodom Botum Bopha (1951-1976)
  3. Anak Munang Thach (married 1943)
  4. HRH Princess Sisowath Monikessan (née HRH Princess Sisowath Naralaksha Munikesara, 1929-1946; married 1944)
    • HRH Samdech Norodom Naradipo (1946-1976)
  5. HRH Princess Samdech Preah Reach Kanitha Norodom Norleak (née Princess Devisa Naralakshmi, born 1927; married 1946 and "more formally" on 4 March 1955)
  6. Mam Manivan Phanivong (née Mam Munivarni Barni Varman, 1934-1975; married 1949)
    • HRH Princess Norodom Socheatha Sujata (1953-1975)
    • HRH Samdech Preah Anoch Norodom Arunrasmy (1955-)
  7. HM Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk (née Paule Monique Izzi, born 18 June 1936; married 12 April 1952 and "more formally" on 5 March 1955)

Books

See also

References

  1. ^ "King Father Sihanouk holds ECCC at bay". The Phnom Penh Post. 7 Semptember, 2007. http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/20070906441/National-news/king-father-sihanouk-holds-eccc-at-bay.html. Retrieved 2009-10-13. "King Father Norodom Sihanouk has held so many positions since 1941 that the Guinness Book of World Records identifies him as the politician who has occupied the world's greatest variety of political offices.". 
  2. ^ Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia. Interviews and talks with Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Hamburg 1985. p. 14. He compares the situation with North Korea: 'Like, for instance, North Korea! I love President Kim Il Sung! Why? Because, even though he is a Communist, he is the founder of a free and independent Korea.' ibid.
  3. ^ Dining with the Dear Leader. By Bertil Lintner - Asian Times, 2007. Accessed on 15 August 2009.
  4. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=7i0jGxysUUcC&pg=PA167&dq=khmer+rouge+north+korea&lr=&as_brr=3#v=onepage&q=khmer%20rouge%20north%20korea&f=false
  5. ^ Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia. Interviews and talks with Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Hamburg 1985. p. 85.
  6. ^ http://countrystudies.us/cambodia/72.htm
  7. ^ Thailand's Response to the Cambodian Genocide. By Dr. Puangthong Rungswasdisab
  8. ^ "Cambodia at a Crossroads," by Michael Johns, The World and I magazine, February 1988.
  9. ^ Norodom Sihanouk has retained cordial relations with North Korea since early 1960s, when he got acquainted Kim Il-Sung at the movement of non-aligned countries. See also http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/cambodia/1503939/Unlikely-alliance-of-king-and-Communist-celebrated-over-mashed-pigs-trotter.html. It should be noted that North Korea never recognized the Vietnamese-installed government in Cambodia, despite immense pressure from Moscow. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IJ31Ae02.html
  10. ^ Cambodia's Ex-King Cites Progress Against His Cancer Yahoo news, 2 March 2009

Further reading

External links

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Sisowath Monivong		 King of Cambodia
1941-1955		 Succeeded by
Norodom Suramarit
Preceded by
Chea Sim
(Chairman of the Council of State)		 King of Cambodia
1993-2004		 Succeeded by
Norodom Sihamoni
Political offices
Preceded by
None		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1945		 Succeeded by
Son Ngoc Thanh
Preceded by
Yem Sambaur		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1950		 Succeeded by
Krom Luong Sisowath Monipong
Preceded by
Huy Kanthoul		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1952–1953		 Succeeded by
Penn Nouth
Preceded by
Chan Nak		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1954		 Succeeded by
Penn Nouth
Preceded by
Leng Ngeth		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1955–1956		 Succeeded by
Oum Chheang Sun
Preceded by
Oum Chheang Sun		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1956		 Succeeded by
Khim Tit
Preceded by
Khim Tit		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1956		 Succeeded by
San Yun
Preceded by
San Yun		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1957		 Succeeded by
Sim Var
Preceded by
Sim Var		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1958–1960		 Succeeded by
Pho Proeung
Preceded by
Norodom Suramarit		 Head of State of Cambodia
1960-1970		 Succeeded by
Cheng Heng
Preceded by
Penn Nouth		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1961–1962		 Succeeded by
Nhiek Tioulong
Preceded by
Sak Sutsakhan		 Head of State of Cambodia
1975–1976		 Succeeded by
Khieu Samphan

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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Norodom Sihanouk".  Read more