The King is Dead, Long Live the King

This temporary lit up temple was built at huge expense for the biggest funeral that Cambodia has seen in recent times. And do they do them with style and colour.

This was happening in Cambodia when I arrived in February.

The cremation ceremony of Cambodia’s late King Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh February 4, 2013. Tens of thousands of Cambodians gathered on Monday to pay their last respects to former King Norodom Sihanouk, a quixotic and much-loved figure who reigned during the country’s struggle for independence but was powerless to prevent decades of war.

Officials carry portraits of Cambodia's late former King Norodom Sihanouk as his funeral procession begins at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh February 1, 2013. Sihanouk died at age 89 of heart failure on October 15, 2012 and his body was cremated the day before I arrived here.

Sihanouk died of a heart attack at the age of 90 in Beijing on October 15th last year. His body was returned to Cambodia two days later and has been lying in state at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh. In a royal letter written in January 2012, the King Father requested his body be cremated instead of being buried, and his ashes to be put in an urn, preferably made of gold, and placed in a stupa at the Royal Palace. Prince Thomico said Thursday that in respect of the King Father’s wishes, the urn is made of platinum.

(born Oct. 31, 1922, Phnom Penh, Camb.) Cambodia's king (1941-55 and 1993-2004); he also held other posts. He abdicated in favour of his father in 1955, becoming his father's prime minister; he became head of state on his father's death in 1960. During the Vietnam War he steered a neutral course between the radical right and left in both his foreign and internal policies. Overthrown by Lon Nol in 1970, he campaigned for the Khmer Rouge but was imprisoned after they came to power, and most of his family was killed. 

Released in the face of a Vietnamese invasion (1979), he denounced both the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge. In 1982 he became president of a fragile coalition of resistance groups. Following UN-sponsored elections in 1993, Cambodia's National Assembly voted to restore the monarchy, and Sihanouk again became king. 

Inspite of his chequered career he was deeply loved by the people of Cambodia as was clear from the million people who lined the streets for his funeral.The people still mourned long into the night.

He abdicated on Oct. 7, 2004, and his son Norodom Sihamoni, chosen to succeed him, was crowned king on October 29.