Background
Norodom Sihamoni was born on May 14, 1953 in Pnompen. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and his sixth wife Monica.
Norodom Sihamoni was born on May 14, 1953 in Pnompen. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and his sixth wife Monica.
As a child, Sihamoni was sent to Prague, Czechoslovakia, by his father in 1962. He lived there in Cambodian embassy.
Prince Norodom attended Prague Academy of Music Arts, where he studied classical ballet and music until 1975. He is fluent in Czech. He continued his education in North Korea, studying filmmaking.
After his returning, in Cambodia there was a gripping on power of “Khmer Rouge” and Norodom was put under house arrest. After falling of this power, he moved in France, where he was a Cambodia’s delegate to UNESCO since 1992 and then he lived in China.
In October, 2004 the King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated. Norodom was 81 at that time and he said, that his death during his ruling would mean “the fall of the Khmer monarchy and the catastrophe for Cambodia and its people, who could not stand another misfortune”.
Cambodia’s politics tried to persuade him to continue his ruling, but when they understood that he would not change his opinion, they made his son the King of Cambodia. Norodom Sihamoni was known not as a politician, but as a professional dancer and choreographer.
The throne council, which consisted of “nine respectful men” (speakers of chambers, theirs deputies, prime-minister and two highest Buddhist hierarchs), adopted the prince candidacy unanimously.
Skeptics suppose that a new monarch’s image of “the pleasant gentleman” doesn’t correspond to the royal image. There is another point of view, which expressed the Cambodian’s historian David Chandler, who considered all things of other people. In other words, Sihanouk’s successor can be a merited ruler.
Sihamoni is still unmarried. In case of his death or his abdication the throne council has to choose the king among princes, who represent collateral lines of dynasty. This situation can cause some problems, connected with legitimacy of the next monarch.