Norodom Sihamoni

Norodom Sihamoni, 2007

Samdech Preah Bâromneath Norodom Sihamoni (born May 14, 1953 in Phnom Penh ) is the King of Cambodia . He is the eldest child of King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Monineath together.

Life

Norodom Sihamoni spent his early childhood in Cambodia. At the age of nine he was sent to Czechoslovakia , Prague , for further training . Among other things, he also received ballet lessons there . In 1967 he starred in the film Le petit prince (The Little Prince), which his father shot, who was repeatedly active as a filmmaker. At the same time he continued his dance training in Czechoslovakia, where he was awarded the “1. National Prize for Classical Dance ”. His further artistic studies took him to the Soviet Union and North Korea , where he received a diploma in cinematography in 1976 .

Norodom Sihamoni ( Banteay Srei , Angkor , 2004)

In 1976, shortly after the Khmer Rouge seized power, he returned to Cambodia, where he was placed under house arrest with the other members of the royal family. It was not until 1978 that the family was able to leave the country when the Vietnamese troops marched into Beijing ( People's Republic of China ).

Three years later, in 1981, Norodom Sihamoni moved to Paris ( France ) and became a teacher at the Gabriel Fauré Conservatory . In addition, he founded his own dance group, the "Ballet Deva". Since 1993 he has been Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris.

On October 14, 2004, Norodom Sihamoni was appointed king by the nine-member throne council. His election was supported by the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Speaker of the National Assembly Prince Norodom Ranariddh (an older half-brother of Norodom Sihamoni) (both are ex officio members of the Throne Council).

The coronation took place on October 29, 2004 in Phnom Penh .

Norodom Sihamoni is unmarried and has no children. In addition to his mother tongue Khmer , he also speaks Czech , Russian , French and English .

Web links

Commons : Norodom Sihamoni  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of King Norodom Sihamoni
• royal family on the official website of Cambodia ( January 19, 2009 memento on the Internet Archive )
• Norodom Sihamoni in the Internet Movie Database (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Norodom Sihanouk	King of Cambodia 2004 – today	-