Norodom Sihamoni
Norodom Sihamoni is King of Cambodia.
A member of the House of Norodom, Sihamoni is the eldest son of King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath. He was educated in Czechoslovakia and gained recognition for his work as a cultural ambassador in Europe and as a classical ballet instructor during his princely years. Before his election as king, he served as Cambodia's ambassador to the United Nations and UNESCO.
He ascended to the throne on 14 October 2004, a week after the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk. During his reign, Sihamoni has continued his cultural advocacy while supporting various philanthropic initiatives, balancing his role as a constitutional monarch amid Cambodia's political developments.
Early life
Birth, name and family
Sihamoni was born on Thursday 14 May 1953, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, when it was still a colonial protectorate within French Indochina. The prince's birth at the time was viewed as a positive omen as Cambodia gained independence from France later in that year.His given name "Sihamoni" comprises two morphemes from his parents' given names "Sihanouk" and "Monineath". As for "Norodom", this means Narottam in Pali and Prakrit, which translates to "the best amongst men". The name has a similar meaning in Khmer as well.
At the time of his birth and that of his younger brother, his mother Princess Monique who is of Khmer, French and Corsican descent, had been one of King Norodom Sihanouk's consorts after being a constant companion since the day they met in 1951 when she won first prize in a national beauty contest. The queen was granted the title of Neak Moneang and the name of Monineath at the time of her marriage to King Norodom Sihanouk in 1952. Furthermore, Queen Monineath is a step-granddaughter of the late Prince Norodom Duong Chakr of Cambodia, and the daughter of Pomme Peang and of her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a Corsican banker.
Sihamoni has 14 half-brothers and half-sisters from his father; his only full sibling, a younger brother, Samdech Norodom Narindrapong, was born in 1954 and died in 2003.
Education and life abroad
The then-Prince Sihamoni first began his education in 1959, where he attended Norodom School, followed by Lycée Descartes School in Phnom Penh, developing a keen interest in the arts early on in his life.In 1962, the young Sihamoni was sent to Prague in Czechoslovakia by his father to study abroad. There, he completed his early education at Majakovský Primary School and later at Ostrovni Elementary School. When he was in his preadolescence years, he starred in a production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker at the prestigious Prague National Theatre, where he pursued private ballet and piano classes and was once even selected for a television rendition of Brundibár, a well-known children's opera. He then concluded his secondary education at the National Prague Conservatory and was regarded as an able student, getting high marks. Here, he further developed his interest in the performing arts, undertaking courses in this field and excelling at the top of his class. Furthermore, he attained great fluency in Czech. A movie directed by Vladimir Sís was shot about the prince in Prague in 1967, under the name The Other Little Prince. The prince would occasionally visit his homeland for holidays of which when he did, he involved himself in Cambodia's arts and cultural scene, including starring in a film made by his father and performing ballet. During the 1970 coup d'état by Lon Nol that saw Sihanouk removed from power and a Khmer Republic being proclaimed, exacerbating the Cambodian Civil War, Sihamoni remained in Czechoslovakia.
Between 1971 and 1975, Sihamoni completed his higher education in classical dance and music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, culminating with the attainment of a Master's degree for which he wrote a thesis titled The Conception and Administration of Artistic Schools in Cambodia. After graduation in 1975, he left Prague and began to study filmmaking in North Korea at the National Academy of Cinematography in Pyongyang.
Return to Cambodia
The fall of Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 led to the demise of the Khmer Republic and the creation of Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge who oversaw a brutal campaign of genocide. In the following year of 1976, Sihamoni was forced to come back to Cambodia after having been deceived by the Khmer Rouge with a forged telegram, undersigned by King Sihanouk ordering his return. Immediately, the ruling Khmer Rouge regime headed by Pol Pot turned against the monarchy, and put the royal family including Sihamoni, his brother Prince Norodom Narindrapong, his mother Queen Norodom Monineath, his father King Norodom Sihanouk under house arrest in the Royal Palace. The consequent Cambodian genocide saw several members of the wider royal family killed and Sihamoni and his immediate family lived in daily fear for their lives, effectively shut off from the outside world. Throughout their period of house arrest, the prince recounted how they were prohibited from making contact with anyone and were barred from having any staff. The Khmer Rouge soldiers would give them food consisting of rice and fish that was limited to two times a week and they had to, for the most part, cultivate their food from the palace gardens. With the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, which resulted in the ousting of the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and the establishment of the Vietnamese installed People's Republic of Kampuchea, the family, aided by the Chinese government, was airlifted to China. Sihamoni subsequently worked as a secretary for his father who spearheaded a resistance movement in response to the Vietnamese occupation.Career
In 1981, Sihamoni moved to France to teach ballet as a professor of classical dance and artistic pedagogy, a position which he held for almost two decades, at various conservatoires, including the Marius Petipa Conservatory, the Gabriel Faure Conservatory and the W.A. Mozart Conservatory. He was also later president of the Khmer Dance Association there. He lived in France for nearly 20 years and continued his pursuit in the arts, establishing 'Ballet Deva', an original dance troupe, in which he served as its General Manager and Artistic Director, alongside heading the Royal Khmer Cinematic Corporation. In his line of work, he placed emphasis on giving opportunities for men to feature more prominently in traditional Khmer dance where they are often not assigned leading roles when he created "Duel", a unique ballet style inspired by the Russian ballet. During this overseas period, for a time, he also entered into the monkhood under the auspices of Samdech Bour Kry, who would later become a supreme patriarch of Cambodia.In the early 1990s, Cambodia's Supreme National Council, which was recognized by United Nations Security Council Resolution 668 as part of the transitional process in the country under the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, unanimously selected Prince Sihamoni in 1992 as its permanent representative to the United Nations, which he served until 1993. That same year of 1993 saw the restoration of the monarchy, with Sihanouk returning as King and the prince being appointed as Cambodia's permanent representative to UNESCO in Paris, a role he held right until he became King in 2004. In this role, Sihamoni became known for his hard work and devotion to Cambodian culture as seen by his advocacy for the international recognition of Khmer classical ballet and shadow theatre as an intangible cultural heritage. He had previously refused an appointment as Cambodia's ambassador to France. In October 2003, he was additionally appointed as a High Privy Counselor to then-King Norodom Sihanouk.
Reign
Accession and coronation
On 14 October 2004, Sihamoni was chosen as monarch by the Royal Council of the Throne, a special nine-member constitutional body that is tasked with electing the King of Cambodia. This selection process was quickly put into place after the surprise abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk the week before. At that time, there were no provisions in the nation's constitution that covered the subject of abdication. Prince Sihamoni's selection was endorsed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the then National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh, both members of the throne council. King Sihanouk backed the decision as well. A few years before his selection, there was speculation about potential succession after he was seen deputizing on Sihanouk's behalf at official functions despite him being rarely seen in public, although much of the initial speculation focused on Ranariddh who was the preferred choice of his parents, but who ultimately expressed disinterest in acceding to the throne. Sihamoni was said to have been reluctant to take on the stately role, but nevertheless accepted it in the national interest, returning on 20 October to Phnom Penh, accompanied by his parents, King-Father Norodom Sihanouk and Queen-Mother Norodom Monineath, to an estimated 100,000 people who lined their motorcade route from Phnom Penh International Airport to the Royal Palace to welcome the soon-to-be King.Then-Prince Sihamoni's accession to the throne was reflected upon by journalist Michael Sheridan of The Sunday Times whom on 17 October 2004 remarked:
Sheridan's reflection captured the symbolism of the moment in Cambodia's monarchical transition as these two indelible chapters etched into its national story; the undisputed significance of King Sihanouk's influential rule and the undeniably traumatic genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge are juxtaposed with one another as the country entered a new historical era under the reign of King Sihamoni.
He was then inaugurated and formally appointed as King on 29 October 2004 in a coronation ceremony centered at the Royal Palace in the capital. The coronation was noted for its relative simplicity, which was specifically requested by King-Father Sihanouk. King Sihamoni himself did not want the ceremonies to be too lavish because he did not wish for the impoverished country to spend too much money on the event, opting for a more modest affair. In a break with precedent, Sihamoni did not assume his seat on the higher, elevated throne nor did he wear the gold-and-diamond monarchial crown that came with the royal regalia.
In his first public speech as monarch, he acknowledged words of wisdom imparted to him by his father and pledged to be a king of the people by saying:
In the first six months after his coronation, Sihamoni ensured to pay regular visits to his fellow Cambodians, especially those in the provinces and countryside, including occasionally making surprise visits. He was praised by observers for "being close to the people and having a gentle touch", though they also noted he still needed time to independently carve out his role as monarch amid the influential role of his father, former King Sihanouk, notwithstanding his abdication.
On 29 October 2014, there were celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of his coronation. Well-wishers representing different cross sections of the kingdom's population congregated outside the royal palace to commemorate the occasion and pay their respects to the King.