Cambodia will officially celebrate the 20th anniversary of the coronation of His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni on 29 October 2024.
This year, the celebrations will last three days. The first two days (28 and 29 October) will be devoted to religious ceremonies and blessings at the Royal Palace. On 30 October, a gathering will be held in front of the Palace under the chairmanship of His Majesty the King, with an expected attendance of around 12,000 people, including Cambodian leaders, senior civil servants, members of the armed forces and the royal family, as well as diplomats.
The annual celebration will also be organised by municipal and provincial governments, with visits to patients, orphans, the disabled and the elderly.
Fireworks will also be set off over the three nights from 28 to 30 October to celebrate the event. To mark Coronation Day, the Royal Government has decided to make 29 October a public holiday for all civil servants and private sector employees and workers.
Biography
Norodom Sihamoni (នរោត្តម សីហ មុនី) was born on 14 May 1953 in Phnom Penh. He became King of Cambodia on 14 October 2004, when the King-father wished to retire from public life. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and his second wife Norodom Monineath.
Norodom Sihamoni has fourteen half-siblings on his father's side; his only brother is a younger one, Samdech Norodom Narindrapong, who was born in 1954 and died in 2003. Although born in Phnom Penh, Norodom Sihamoni spent the first years of his youth in the Paris region.
Prague
His father sent him to Prague in 1962, where he attended primary school, secondary school and the Academy of Music Arts. During these years, the Prince studied classical dance and music almost non-stop until 1975.
He graduated from the Academy of Music Arts with a diploma in advanced artistic studies. During the 1960s, when Cambodia was experiencing one of the most prosperous periods in its history, Norodom Sihamoni took advantage of one of his returns to the country to become, at the age of 14, the lead actor in the film The Little Prince, shot by his father. During Lon Nol's coup d'état in the 1970s, Norodom Sihamoni lived in Czechoslovakia.
North Korea
In 1975, the Prince left Prague to study cinema in Pyongyang, North Korea. The following year, he returned to Cambodia, officially invited to take part in the commemorations of the first anniversary of the capture of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge forces.
In fact, it was an invitation telegram forged with his father's signature and, once in the capital, he was placed under house arrest at the Royal Palace with his parents and his brother, Prince Narindrapong. He did not regain his freedom until 1979, when Pol Pot's regime fell.
French years
In 1981, the Prince returned to France to teach dance at the Marius-Petipa Conservatory. He also founded his own troupe, Ballet Deva, which toured France, China and North Korea.
He also became president of the Khmer Dance Association. The prince lived in France for almost twenty years, regularly visiting Prague, the land of his childhood and youth. In addition to his native Khmer, the monarch is also fluent in French, Czech, English and Russian.
UNESCO
In 1993, the Prince was appointed Cambodia's delegate to UNESCO in Paris. In this role, he quickly gained recognition for his hard work and dedication to Cambodian culture. He succeeded in imposing his country as a member of the organisation's executive committee. Previously, the prince had refused to be appointed Cambodian ambassador to France.
Coronation
On 14 October 2004, Norodom Sihamoni was chosen by a special nine-member council, the Throne Council, a selection process that was quickly put in place after the surprise abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk. Sihamoni's choice will be approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the National Assembly through its President, Prince Norodom Ranariddh (the new King's half-brother), both of whom are members of the Council.
Norodom Sihamoni will be enthroned and officially appointed King of Cambodia on 29 October 2004. King Sihamoni and his parents, King Father Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath, asked that the ceremonies not be too lavish so as ‘not to shock the population of a poor country’.
To this day, Norodom Sihamoni is single and has no children. Before he was crowned, his royal title was Samdech Krom Khun (Khmer: ស្តេ ច ក្រុម ឃុន), which equated him with the rank of Grand Prince. When he became king, his title was: Preah Karuna Preah Bat Samdach Preah Norodom Sihamoni Bâromneath Preah Mohaksat Nai Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea (in Romanised Khmer); which could be translated as: His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni of the Kingdom of Cambodia. His name, Sihamoni, is made up of two morphemes of his parents' first names, Sihanouk and Monineath.
Comments