Farewell for King Norodom Sihanouk

Norodom Sihanouk was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 to 2004. He was the effective ruler of Cambodia from 1953 to 1970. He died on Oct 15, 2012 while receiving medical treatment in China.

Sihanouk held so many positions since 1941 that the Guinness Book of World Records identifies him as the politician who has served the world's greatest variety of political offices.These included two terms as king, two as sovereign prince, one as president, two as prime minister, as well as numerous positions as leader of various governments-in-exile. He served as puppet head of state for the Khmer Rouge government in 1975–1976.

In 2004, he abdicated and the Royal Council appointed Norodom Sihamoni, one of his sons, as the new king on Oct 14th 2005 The elderly Sihanouk was then proclaimed as His Majesty The King Father of Cambodia.

Though he was egotistical, vain and often ruthless, Sihanouk had one quality that endeared him to his people: He genuinely loved his country and its rural villagers, whom he invariably referred to as the “little people,” even when he wasn’t willing or able to do justice to that love. And many of them loved him in turn, even when he didn’t seem to deserve it.