Good bye My King

Funerals of Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihanouk

On 1 February 2013, Cambodians from across the country came to Phnom Penh to pay their last respects to King Sihanouk who died on 15 October 2012, of a heart attack in Beijing at the age of 89. Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Cambodia’s capital for the cremation of King Norodom Sihanouk, the revered “King-Father” who survived wars and the Khmer Rouge regime.

A coffin carrying the embalmed body of the late monarch was paraded through the streets of the capital. It was taken to the royal crematorium where his body was cremated on 4 February.

Norodom Sihanouk

• Born 31 October 1922
• First crowned king in 1941
• Led Cambodia to independence from France – Independance day 9 November 1953
• On 18 March 1970 the National Assembly voted to depose Sihanouk allowing Lon Nol to assume power
• Aligned with Khmer Rouge in its early years, but held under house arrest while regime was in power
• Spent long periods in exile in China
• 24 September 1993, Reinstated as King of Cambodia and Worked in 1990s to bring stability and peace to Cambodia
• Abdicated again on 6 July 2004 in favor of his son
• Passed away 15 October 2012