Cambodia’s retired king Norodom Sihanouk marks his 82nd birthday Sunday and despite promises of a hushed retirement is unlikely to bow out of public life as he goes on wielding influence, analysts say. Given his indefatigable energy and love of the limelight even after more than six decades of flamboyantly treading the international stage, they…
Read moreTechnology trumps Cambodia’s royal portrait artist
The dozens of identical photographic portraits of Cambodia’s new King Norodom Sihamoni looming over the capital’s boulevards to mark his coronation have left royal artist Kimsong Narykun wringing his hands. Technology has trumped 40-year-old Narykun, who works daily in a fan-cooled studio equipped with just one small easel set on a rattan mat, a stone’s…
Read moreCambodia’s new king faces baptism of fire into politics
The totally inexperienced Prince Norodom Sihamoni, an ex-ballet dancer named Cambodia’s new king Thursday, faces a baptism of fire when he is plunged into the kingdom’s infamously treacherous political world. The 51-year-old prince, who has spent years abroad pursuing a career in the arts, is largely unknown at home and will have few people to…
Read moreCambodia’s Prince Sihamoni — the dancer destined to be king
Prince Norodom Sihamoni, the man expected to be Cambodia’s next king, is a clasically-trained ballet dancer who has spent much of his adult life abroad pursuing a career in the arts. Inheriting his father’s King Norodom Sihanouk’s artistic streak, the 51-year-old Sihamoni has pursued a love of dance, music and cinema, and is known to…
Read moreTop Cambodian leader to beg” abdicated king to stay on throne”
Cambodia’s national assembly president left for China Saturday to beg King Norodom Sihanouk to change his mind about abdicating, but left open the option of a new monarch being appointed. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, 81-year-old Sihanouk’s son, told reporters he would "kneel down to beg His Majesty the King to continue to lead us as the…
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