Cambodia’s Queen Mother Monique celebrates 75th birthday
Posted on 16. Jun, 2011 by admin in Cambodia
On Saturday, June 18, 2011, one of Southeast Asia’s greatest survivors will celebrate her 75th birthday, as well as almost 60 years as a member of Cambodia’s royal family, the House of Norodom.
Queen Mother Norodom Monineath, as she is now formally known, was born Paule-Monique Izzi on June 18, 1936, in Saigon, then the capital of French Cochinchina, today Ho Chi Minh City. She was born into a distinctly middle-class colonial family. Her father, Jean-François Izzi, was a banker of French, Corsican and Italian descent, while her Khmer mother, Pomme Peang, was from Phnom Penh.
The young Monique studied at some of the best schools in Phnom Penh—Norodom Primary, Sisowath High School and the Lycée René Descartes—and looked set to live a normal middle-class life in colonial Phnom Penh, generally considered to have been the most attractive city in French Indochina at that time.
All this changed in 1951, however, when King Norodom Sihanouk, at the time 29 years old, with 10 years on the throne and an established reputation as a lady’s man, first cast eyes upon 16-year-old Monique while awarding her first prize at a beauty contest. They married in 1952 and again, more formally, in 1955, and have been together—for richer and for poorer—ever since.
Sihanouk—and therefore, by extension, Monique—lived through some seriously troubled times before reaching old age and a comfortable retirement. Following independence from France in 1953, Sihanouk ruled over a notionally neutral Cambodia trapped between communist North Vietnam and pro-American rightist regimes in South Vietnam and Thailand. He gradually became convinced of the inevitability of US defeat, however, and began to tilt towards Hanoi and away from Washington.
In 1965, Sihanouk made an agreement with the People’s Republic of China and North Vietnam to allow North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia, and to permit Chinese military supplies to reach these forces via a ‘maritime Ho Chi Minh Trail’ using the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville, thus alienating South Vietnam and its all-important US patrons. At the same time, Sihanouk became increasingly ruthless in his suppression of home-grown Cambodian communists, who he personally labeled “Khmers Rouges”.
This balancing act was to prove impossible to sustain. He alienated the Cambodian left, leading to the outbreak of civil war in 1967, and he alienated the right, leading to his ouster in a military coup led by General Lon Nol and backed by the CIA in 1970. Sihanouk was in Beijing at the time of the coup, and was quick to accept China’s offer of help at the price of openly backing the communist insurgency not just in Vietnam, but also in Cambodia.
The Khmer Rouge Years
Monique, who by this time had been at Sihanouk’s side for almost 20 years, soon joined him in Beijing, and then in North Korea, where Kim Il Sung built the deposed royals a 60-room palace complete with its own movie theatre. Sihanouk was bitterly angered by the coup, but at least the life he and Monique now led was still comfortable—after all, the indulgent monarch once said of the French: “I am anti-colonialist, but if one has to be colonized, it is better to be colonized by gourmets”.
Norodom Sihanouk embraces Khieu Samphan
Despite this, injured pride and fury towards Lon Nol drove Sihanouk and Monique into the arms of his old enemies, the ruthless Khmer Rouge. In 1973, with Chinese encouragement, the former royal couple made a difficult and dangerous trip down the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam, before entering Khmer Rouge territory to show their support for the communist insurgency. Khmer Rouge pictures of the time show Sihanouk and Monique clad in black pajamas and Ho Chi Minh sandals, embracing Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan, eating in communal kitchens and sitting on the steps of their wooden ‘white house’ in the Khmer Rouge liberated zone.
What Monique thought of all this must remain a matter for speculation, but we know that Sihanouk hated it, and we can guess she did too.
Then, on April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and established the living hell that was Democratic Kampuchea, emptying the cities, abolishing commerce, money, religion and the family. Over the course of the next three-and-a-half years, an estimated two million people, or more than 20 per cent of the Cambodian people, were to die of starvation, disease and murder, amounting to state-sponsored genocide.
Soon after the Khmer Rouge victory in April 1975, Sihanouk and Monique returned to Cambodia by air from Beijing. Sihanouk was to become symbolic Head of State for the new regime, and imagined himself living in comfort, acting as “a public relations man for Cambodia … having some jazz parties and doing some filming”.
Instead, he and Monique found themselves terrified prisoners in the Grand Palace for the duration of the Khmer Rouge regime, cut off from the outside world while the Khmer Rouge murdered at least 18 of Sihanouk’s relatives. Indeed, there is clear evidence that Pol Pot intended to order the execution of the royal couple, their lives only being spared because of the intervention of Mao Zedong and Kim Il Sung on Sihanouk’s behalf.
A Life in Exile
Norodom Sihanuk and Princess Monique at Bantaey Srei
Sihanouk’s imprisonment only ended with the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December 1979, when he was whisked away to New York with the assistance of the Chinese to represent the deposed Khmer Rouge regime at the United Nations. This Sihanouk refused to do, defecting to the US and announcing that the UN seat should remain empty, as he also refused to recognize the Vietnamese puppet regime installed after the Khmer Rouge defeat.
For the next 10 or so years, until the Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia in 1989, Sihanouk and Monique led a comfortable but bitter life of exile in both Beijing and Pyongyang. The former Paule-Monique Izzi must have wondered what had become of her fairy-tale life as a princess in the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh while her husband descended into a cycle of declining health and her country remained racked by a vicious war between Vietnamese occupiers and Khmer Rouge fanatics.
There was eventually to be a happy ending, however. Two years after the Vietnamese withdrawal, Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh in 1991 after 13 years in exile and almost four years as a prisoner. Monique also returned to Phnom Penh, and was at her husband’s side in 1993 when the Cambodian monarchy was restored and Sihanouk again became king.
King Father and Queen Mother
No doubt to show his love and gratitude, Sihanouk—who was by now seriously ill and spending long periods of time receiving treatment in Beijing—ennobled his long-suffering, former beauty queen wife, making her ‘Samdech Preah Cheayea’ in 1992, raising her again to ‘Samdech Preah Mohesey Norodom Monineath’ in 1993, and finally to the elevated rank of ‘Samdech Preah Reach Akka Mohesey Norodom Monineath’ in 1996—though she is still often popularly referred to as Queen Monique.
Sihanouk’s health continued to decline, and on 7 October, 2004, he stepped down from the throne for reasons of poor health. A chapter had ended for Monique, but a new and perhaps happier one was about to begin. On 14 October, 2004, the Throne Council appointed the eldest of her two sons, H.R.H. King Norodom Sihamoni, successor as constitutional monarch, and Monique became Cambodia’s Queen Mother.
Today Sihamoni remains King of Cambodia, though strongman President Hun Sen retains real power. There is genuine affection for the royal family across the country, and an ailing but still active ‘King Father’ Sihanouk, together with ‘Queen Mother’ Monique, are quite probably as content and secure as they have ever been throughout their long years of royal power, imprisonment and exile.
This guest article has been kindly provided by Pictures from History – a comprehensive database of high quality images covering Asian culture and historical events.
Angkor Archaeological Park – Angkor Wat, Thom, Roluos Group & Siem Reap
Posted on 03. Nov, 2010 by admin in Cambodia
The Temples of Angkor are one of the world’s most staggering sights. Larger than the complex of the Great Pyramids, the Temples of Angkor precinct spreads across a huge area that houses the ruins of a number of ancient Khmer cities, each one built to outdo the next. Everyone has their favourite temple here, and there certainly are many to choose from. (more…)
Budget travel around Cambodia for backpackers
Posted on 30. Sep, 2010 by admin in Cambodia
Within the past decade, the nation of Cambodia in Southeast Asia has overcome centuries of war, occupation, and the brutal Khmer Rouge regime to become one of the world’s most popular backpacking destinations. Visitors who enjoy exploring off the beaten path will especially enjoy all of Cambodia’s hidden delights.
This guide highlights all the recommended destinations in Cambodia for backpackers. (more…)
