Norodom Sihamoni
| Norodom Sihamoni | |
|---|---|
 |
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| King of Cambodia | |
| Reign | 14 October 2004 – present |
| Coronation | 29 October 2004 |
| Predecessor | Norodom Sihanouk |
| Prime Minister | Hun Sen |
| Born |
14 May 1953 Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
| House | House of Norodom |
| Father | Norodom Sihanouk |
| Mother | Norodom Monineath |
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism |
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Styles of The King of Cambodia |
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|---|---|
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| Reference style | His Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sire |
Norodom Sihamoni (Khmer: នរោត្តម សីហមុនី; born 14 May 1953) is the King of Cambodia, which he became on 14 October 2004. He is the eldest son of King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath. He was Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO and named by a nine-member throne council to become the next king after his father Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in 2004. Before ascending the throne, Sihamoni was best known for his work as a cultural ambassador in Europe and as a classical dance instructor, a specialization he graduated from in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
Sihamoni was born in 1953. At the time of his birth and that of his younger brother, his mother Monique Izzi, a Cambodian citizen of French-Corsican-Italian and Khmer ancestry, had been one of King Norodom Sihanouk's consorts after being a constant companion since the day they met in 1951, when she won first prize in a national beauty contest. She was granted the title of Neak Moneang and the name of Monineath at the time of her marriage to King Norodom Sihanouk in 1952. Furthermore, Queen Monineath is a step-granddaughter of the late Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia, and the daughter of Pomme Peang and of her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a French-Italian banker. The Royal Ark website entry about the genealogy of the Cambodian royal family states that Sihanouk and Monineath were married twice, once on 12 April 1952, when she was 15, and again ("more formally", according to the website) on 5 March 1955. She is described as Sihanouk's seventh wife.
Norodom Sihamoni has 14 half-brothers and half-sisters by his father; his only full sibling, a younger brother, Samdech Norodom Narindrapong, was born in 1954 and died in 2003.
He has spent most of his life outside Cambodia. As a child Sihamoni was sent to Prague, in then Czechoslovakia, by his father in 1962. During the 1970 coup d'état by Lon Nol, Sihamoni remained in Czechoslovakia, where he attended all three levels of education - elementary school, high school and AMU - Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, and studied classical dance and music almost continuously until 1975, when he graduated. As he spent almost his entire childhood and youth in Prague, the king is fluent in Czech language. A movie directed by was shot about the prince in Prague in 1967, under the name "The Other Little Prince (Jiný malý princ).
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