For those curious to observe a demigod in the flesh, the body of Norodom Sihanouk lay on display in Phnom Penh until 4 February, when it was cremated. The outpouring of grief at the passing of Cambodia’s “King Father”, who ruled the country after its independence from France in 1953, brought hundreds of thousands of mourners on to the streets, some discerning his protean features in the rising half-moon.
The Guinness Book of Records nominated Sihanouk during his phase on earth as the politician who had held more official positions and titles than anyone. After his death on 15 October 2012, at the age of 89, television stations made continuous broadcasts of historic footage of Sihanouk from the 1960s, when he dominated Cambodia as its prince, prime minister and head of state. This was the period, now regarded by many as a golden age, when the saying that “Sihanouk is Cambodia” was perhaps truest.
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