Norodom Sihamoni (born 14 May 1953) is the King of Cambodia. He became King on 14 October 2004, a week after the abdication of his father, Norodom Sihanouk. He is the eldest son of King Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath and was Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO, prior to his selection by a nine-member throne council to become the next king. Before ascending to the throne, Sihamoni was educated in Czechoslovakia and was best known for his work as a cultural ambassador in Europe and as a classical dance instructor.
The then Prince Sihamoni first began his education in 1959, where he attended Norodom School, followed by Descartes School in Phnom Penh, developing a keen interest in the arts early on in his life.
In 1962 the young Sihamoni was sent to Prague, in then Czechoslovakia, by his father to study abroad. During the 1970 Cambodian coup d'état by Lon Nol, Sihamoni remained in Czechoslovakia. There, he completed his elementary and secondary education and was regarded as an able student, getting high marks. He also further developed his interest in the performing arts, undertaking courses in this field at the National Prague Conservatory, excelling top of his class. Furthermore, he attained great fluency in Czech. A movie directed by Vladimir Sís was shot about the prince in Prague in 1967, under the name "The Other Little Prince (Jiný malý princ).
Between 1971 and 1975, he completed his higher education in classical dance and music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, culminating with the attainment of a Master's degree for which he did a thesis titled "The Conception and Administration of Artistic Schools in Cambodia." After graduation in 1975 he left Prague and began to study filmmaking in North Korea.
However, in 1976, was forced to come back to Cambodia after having been deceived by the Khmer Rouge. Immediately, the ruling Khmer Rouge regime headed by Pol Pot turned against the monarchy, and put the royal family including Sihamoni, his brother Prince Norodom Narindrapong, his mother Queen Norodom Monineath, his father King Norodom Sihanouk under house arrest in the Royal Palace during much of the period of Democratic Kampuchea. The consequent Cambodian genocide saw several members of the wider royal family killed. With the 1979 Vietnamese Invasion, that ousted the Khmer Rouge, the family was airlifted to China and Sihamoni subsequently worked as a secretary for his father.
In 1981 he moved to France to teach ballet as a Professor of Classical dance and Artistic Pedagogy, a position which he held for almost two-decades, and was also later president of the Khmer Dance Association there. He lived in France for nearly 20 years and continued his pursuit in the arts, including establishing 'Ballet Deva', an original dance troupe. During this time, he undertook monkhood as well under the auspices of Bour Kry, who would later become a supreme patriarch of Cambodia.
The year 1993 saw the prince being appointed Cambodia's permanent representative to UNESCO in Paris, a role he held right until he became King in 2004. In this role he became known for his hard work and his devotion to Cambodian culture. He had previously refused an appointment as Cambodia's ambassador to France.
On 14 October 2004 he was selected by a special nine-member council, part of a selection process that was quickly put in place after the surprise abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk a week before. Prince Sihamoni's selection was endorsed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh (the new king's half-brother), both members of the privy council. King Sihanouk backed the decision as well. He was inaugurated and formally appointed as King on 29 October 2004 in a coronation ceremony centered at the royal residence in the capital. In his first speech as monarch, he pledged to be a king of the people who will be a “faithful and loyal servant” of the nation and that he shall “never live apart from the beloved people."
King Sihamoni and his parents, King Father Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath, specifically requested that the ceremonies not be lavish because they did not wish the impoverished country to spend too much money on the event. On 29 October 2014, there were celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of his coronation
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