Sihamoni of Cambodia: the prince who dreamed of being a dancer and was forced to reign

Someone assured Norodom Sihamoni that if he saw a shooting star and made a wish, it would come true. That night contemplating the sky of Prague, when he saw that star that seemed to move, he did not hesitate, he closed his eyes and with all the strength of his soul he asked: “Never be the king of Cambodia.”

On May 13, 1953 in Phnom Penh, the capital of the then Kingdom of Cambodia, was born Norodom Sihamoni, queen’s son Monineath and the revered Norodom Sihanouk, regarded as the last God King in a country with a long Buddhist tradition.

Perhaps because Sihamoni was one of the fourteen children that the king had with six concubines, for the Cambodians the great news of that year was not the birth of a new member of the royal family but that the nation finally got rid of French colonialism.

Sihanouk established a democratic constitutional monarchy, but what seemed like a new era for Cambodia turned into the nation’s most troubled and bloody times. With the region increasingly exposed to the conflict in Vietnam, North Vietnamese bases settled in Cambodia.

In 1970 a coup d’état led Sihanouk into exile in Beijing. That theater and art-loving king decided to support the Khmer Rouge, the armed wing of the Communist Party that with Pol Pot, its bloodthirsty leader, seized power in 1975. Under the guise of a people’s republic a regime of terror was established.

The arrest, torture and mass killings for the government were not tragedies but statistics. During the four years that they remained in power, they burned libraries, banned medicines, cars and even the use of glasses. They abolished markets, money, and banned all religions.

Food was supplied and rationed by the state, and owning a pot was considered a crime. One and a half million Cambodians died of starvation or were executed.

In 44 months, Pol Put and the Khmer Rouge wiped out 25% percent of the population, including five of King Sihanouk’s fourteen children and nine of his grandchildren.

Several years before such insanity and tragedy took hold of his country, Sihamoni lived quietly and relatively happily. His parents noticed that he liked music and dancing and they sent him to magical Prague to study ballet.

Although he was just a child, being away from his parents was not as sad as the joy he felt every time he put on his dancing shoes and his body was carried away by the music. “They were the best years of my life,” he often declares.

She stayed in Czechoslovakia until 1975 when she graduated from the Academy of Performing Arts, before in 1971 she won first prize in the classical dance competition of the Prague National Conservatory. Still today close your eyes and listen to the applause that crowned his performance.

Encouraged by his father, from Prague he moved to Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea to study film. He could have continued studying but in 1977 he had to choose between personal happiness or family loyalty and chose the latter.

The Khmer Rouge had confined the entire royal family in the palace and Sihamoni decided to take on that punishment with them.

When he returned, terror reigned. The Khmer had murdered the king’s fifth wife, Manivan Phanivong, one of his two daughters, Princess Norodom Sucheatvatea, her husband, and their three children. The royal family lived imprisoned in a palace on the banks of the River Bassac.

They were forced to perform servant jobs and their guards were allowed to beat them at will. Four of his stepbrothers were killed and another died of malaria while trying to join the resistance. Sihamoni showed no pain, he knew it was considered a sign of weakness and would be beaten.

House arrest and torture lasted until 1979 when the regime fell and King Sihanuk and his family including Sihamoni began a new exile in Beijing. While his brothers were interested in politics, he only showed interest in theater and ballet. For a time he was his father’s secretary and in 1981 he settled in Paris.

Another period of happiness began in the City of Light. Far from the extravagances of Arab princes and the luxuries of some European crowns or Third World politicians He gave up the car with a driver to move on public transport.

This is how he came not to receptions or banquets but to conservatories where he gave ballet classes. He lived in an austere way, without luxuries or boasting of caste. With his career on the rise created his production company that represented works whose choreography and scenography he designed.

In 2004, an elderly and ailing Sihanouk announced his intention to abdicate. The name of the successor had to come from the decision of a Council of the Royal Throne, but since in Cambodia the monarchy is not hereditary, four hundred members of the royalty met the requirements to access the crown.

To avoid such a mess and fights, the king announced that the successor would be Sihamoni; the Council obeyed because who would dare to contradict the word of a king considered god and above all, because Sihamoni – who showed no interest in politics or government – would never try to come to power.

A) Yes Sihamoni who had earned the nickname “Dancing Prince” was brought to Cambodia to be crowned by his father. The continuity of the monarchy was at stake and the son who had never wanted to occupy the throne, the simple and austere man who was happy in anonymity again returned bound by loyalty to his country.

In October 2004 he was crowned. The images show a man with infinite sadness. Several gestures served to make it clear that he was a monarch by obligation and not by will. He wore a simple white suit instead of the traditional royal robes with intricate and luxurious ornamentation.

He did not wear the royal crown, much less wielded the holy sword, as his ancestors did. He left them as symbols next to the throne. He knew that he reigned but did not govern, for his people his figure was the symbol of national unity and the guarantee of the independence and sovereignty of a country with a long history of subjugation; it was scarcely more valuable to the government than a valuable adornment.

Although Sihamoni announced that he would dedicate “In body and soul at the service of the people and the nation, continuing the exceptional work carried out by my august father, grandfather and great-grandfather”, little and nothing could and can do.

The mighty prime minister Hun Sen who has been in power since 1998, removed him from his official duties and reduced its functions to a decorative role. As soon as he is allowed to leave the palace, he stopped being the “dancing prince” to be the “prisoner king”.

His day passes between the signing of official documents that he is not allowed to read, some visits from foreign guests and diplomats, the resolution of some inconsequential matters and at the end of the day he retires to his rooms.

A sophisticated network of spies, made up of palace assistants, informs the prime minister of their every move.

The man who was happy with his ballet shoes and who enjoyed the theater today is forbidden these activities. The cultured king who speaks five languages: Khmer (the language of Cambodia), French, Czech, English and Russian almost never travels abroad, but is allowed to read and watch a movie. At night he dines alone.

At 67, he never married or has children, so many believe that he is homosexual, something that was not denied or confirmed. After being crowned, the queen mother was asked if she saw a wedding for her son nearby and Monineath replied in surprise: “Wife my son? But if he only feels Buddhist. Love women like sisters”.

His father had already defended the rights of the LGTBI collective in 2004. “I’m not gay, but I respect them. They would not exist if God had created them for us ”, he argued.

If the parents of the current monarch showed their lack of prejudice, the Cambodian government exhibited the opposite. He passed a law that punishes those who speculate on the political functions of the monarch and his sexual condition.

It’s not a joke or a already seen of medieval obscurantism. Three people were recently arrested for posting on a social network a photo with Sihamoni’s face retouched into a gay porn image and the words “Cambodia King is gay”.

Today Cambodians know that their king feels “sad, lonely and abandoned.” His stepbrother, the prince Norodom Ranarridh not without some admiration he assures that “the king does not exercise his constitutional prerogatives so as not to endanger an institution that he considers more important than him, the Crown. Both the king and the prime minister are very happy with the situation. It’s kind of a gentlemen’s agreement”.

But he adds: “I don’t think my brother is happy. I think he would like to be somewhere else”. Maybe that’s why Sihamoni begs to see a shooting star again and make another wish that he hopes this time will come true. He no longer wants to stop being a king but to be a man who at least occasionally feels happy while dancing in pointe shoes.