Background
Norindeth was a grandson of Norodom of Cambodia and was educated at the University of Paris.
Norindeth was a grandson of Norodom of Cambodia and was educated at the University of Paris.
In 1946 Norindeth formed the Liberal Party, initially known as the Constitutionalist Party. lieutenant was the first to be created in the country"s history. The Liberals were broadly pro-French and advocated a gradual approach to self-rule, maintaining strong French links: Norindeth hoped to gain the guaranteed support of the elite, anticommunists, and the country"s Cham minority.
Norindeth organised Party meetings at his home, though these served to convince some observers that the Prince "had no idea of politics".
The Democratic Party had initial electoral success and was for several years the most popular in the country. Norindeth fled to Paris as a result of being linked with the assassin.
The Liberal Party, however, were to gain a temporary ascendancy in the Assembly as a result of the Democrats" disorganisation. Norindeth returned to Cambodia in 1951 and was to leave the Liberal Party and join Sihanouk"s Sangkum political movement after its formation in 1955.
Later that year he became the first permanent Cambodian delegate to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. During the 1960s, he was successively appointed the Ambassador to Yugoslavia (1961-1963) and Burma (1964-1967).
Active as a politician and diplomat during the 1940s, 50s and 60s, he is notable mainly for founding the Cambodian Liberal Party (Kanaq Sereipheap), the first Cambodian political party.
Under the French-imposed Cambodian constitution, any member of the Norodom or Sisowath descendents of King Ang Duong could be chosen as the country"s king, and after the 1941 death of Sisowath Monivong, Norindeth, along with Sisowath Monireth and Norodom Suramarit, was one of several main candidates for the throne. However, the French authorities ultimately selected his 19-year-old nephew Norodom Sihanouk as king, though Norindeth was made a member of the Council of Regency. In 1950 its leader Ieu Koeus was assassinated, blame being pointed at a member of Norindeth"s entourage.
Norindeth was one of the many members of the Cambodian royal family who were killed subsequent to the Khmer Rouge takeover in April 1975.