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T H E L I F E S T Y L E S O F

C A M B O D I A
The royal family evokes tradition,
history and respect. As the New
Year begins, Michael Sloan
looks to its future by speaking to
several young royals about their
ambitions and attitudes towards
the Cambodian monarchy - both
as a family and an institution.
Photography by Dylan Walker.
30 AsiaLIFE Cambodia AsiaLIFE Cambodia 31
32 AsiaLIFE Cambodia AsiaLIFE Cambodia 33
M
ore than 600 guests including
government ministers, business
leaders and members of the royal
family packed out the Sotel ballroom on
Christmas Eve to mark the largest regal
wedding Cambodia has seen in years.
With a guest list including Prime Minister
Hun Sen, the A-list reception capped off a
day of celebrations that begun when Prince
Sisowath Vic was formally married to Ong
Reaksmey inside the throne room of the
Royal Palace in a ceremony ofciated by the
King.
Raised and educated abroad, the groom
- whos prefers that people refer to him as
just Vic - met his future wife in Siem Reap
where they both hold positions at a major
bank. He freely admits that his choice of
career, values and partner were all shaped
by the experience of growing up overseas
and later adjusting to life in Cambodia - a
country he was too young to remember
leaving.
Its a feeling shared among other young
royals born immediately before, or in the
years after, the Khmer Rouge took power.
While the older generation once occupied
government posts as ministers and gener-
als, their children are embarking on careers
as talk show hosts, business executives
and fashion designers.
PROVING YOURSELF
One of the hardest parts of moving back
to Cambodia as a prince or princess raised
abroad isnt different social expectations, its
simply proving you are royal. Thats the view
of radio talk show host Princess Norodom
Soma, who moved from the US to Phnom
Penh to care for her elderly father in 2010.
When you move back to Cambodia,
if you want to use the Norodom name as
your surname, you need to really prove you
are one, she says. You have to write a let-
ter to the palace, and then they do research
to conrm you are who you say you are.
Weve had a lot of fake imposters, so they
have to have older royal family members
identify you in pictures. Documents were
lost and people were killed during the
Khmer Rouge.
After spending most of her life in Califor-
nia and Georgia, a period where she tried
to use her maiden name as little as pos-
sible, Soma says the reaction to the status
attached to Norodom in Cambodia came
as a shock. I didnt want people to know
who I was growing up in the US, I didnt
want them to know I was a princess and I
wanted to earn respect by working hard.
I MPOSTERS
For many returning royals, proving your
credentials is a problem compounded by
a maze-like family that includes more than
100 living members of two inter-linked royal
houses: Norodom and Sisowath.
Confusion over the family tree was rife
during the 1990s when stringent checks
were adopted to prevent people from
fraudulently applying for a royal ID. Essen-
tially a blue passport, it entitles the holder
to various minor privileges including the use
of diplomatic queues at airports.
Fakes and imposters are not so com-
mon now, says Vics sister-in-law, Sisowath
Phala. But growing up in Phnom Penh be-
fore her marriage into the family - she came
across several people who either claimed to
be royals thought to have been killed by the
Khmer Rouge or had just invented a name
out of thin air.
Its wasnt only people from the states
coming back, it was people from the prov-
inces - from Siem Riep or something like
that. They would claim they were princes to
get status, she says.
ROYAL LANGUAGE
Phala, who met and married Prince Siso-
wath Chivanaridth after his return from
the US in the early 1990s, has a different
perspective on life in the family. One of
the aspects of life as a Sisowath she had
the most difculty adjusting to was the
use of so-called Royal Khmer in formal
situations. It is a complex dialect which
sometimes resembles a completely different
language.
Even words like water and chopsticks
are different, she says. When you sit its
not the same, when you sleep its not the
same, when you eat its not the same. For
example for a glass of water in Khmer you
just say tuk but in the royal family the word
is osatruss.
While the default language inside the
royal family is often French and to a lesser
extent English, the politest way to speak to
relatives in formal situations is by learn-
ing royal terms for everyday items, says
S I S O W A T H N O R Y V O N G
19 S T UDE NT
N O R O D O M S O M A
RADI O HOS T
"When you move back to
Cambodia, if you want to
use the Norodom name as
your surname, you need to
really prove you are one"
34 AsiaLIFE Cambodia AsiaLIFE Cambodia 35
19-year-old Prince Noryvong Sisowath, or
Nikko for short.
While Nikko, who spent his early child-
hood in the US before returning to Cam-
bodia aged eight, has adjusted to life in
Cambodia seamlessly, he still speaks with
an American accent - unlike his younger
sister Bijou who moved back with her father
aged ve.
Ive got to say my accent hasnt
changed at all, I still sound like an American
person trying to speak Khmer. My sister
however, shes professional at Khmer and
way better than me, he says.
The exodus of royals as the Khmer
Rouge closed in on Phnom Penh in the ear-
ly 1970s means that many of their children
grew up with few memories of Cambodia
and little grasp of the language, explains
Sisowath Vic, who left the Kingdom when
he was less than a year old.
Growing up in France and US Im kind
of a mix of a little bit of everything. I was
raised in a French culture. Everyone in
my family speaks French - its the default
language. We were never really forced to
learn Khmer when I was growing up. Im
not very good but my Khmer has improved
a lot since Ive been here
RETURNI NG HOME
For returning royals, language is more of
an issue in adjusting to life in Cambodia
outside the family than within it, says Vic.
But its an obstacle trumped by the feeling
that Cambodia is home.
I think the older generation has more of
a nostalgic connection to the country that
the younger ones dont have, because we
didnt know what it was like before this, he
explains. Even though I spent a lot more
time in France and the US, this is still my
country.
For Vic, feeling a connection with Cam-
bodia was innate rather than based on royal
family history, tradition or protocol. Theres
a big gap between my parents generation
and mine where they lived a royal lifestyle
in the 50s and 60s and had everything they
wanted, he says. Thats probably why Im
different from some of my family members,
Im very approachable and I try very hard
just to be like everybody else.
TRADI TI ONS AND STI PENDS
One tradition that persists today and
divides some royals is the practice of ap-
pointing family members to sinecure posi-
tions attached to the palace.
The various positions come with a sal-
ary of between $200 to $1,000 a month,
depending on the age of the royal involved
and their title. For returning royals in their
30s, the gure is usually around $300. Ac-
cepting or declining an offered position is a
choice each person makes on their own.
Prince Norodom Navarithipongs wife
Ermine, who runs a fashion boutique with
her husband, says most young princes and
princesses have some kind of employment
and rarely depend on a royal salary if they
even receive it. And even if you want it
you cannot ask, she says. You have to be
nominated by the King.
Norodom Soma says that after success-
fully transplanting her burgeoning career
to Cambodia, receiving a stipend was not
an option she considered - tradition or no
tradition.
I turned it down because Im a working
princess, Id rather take a salary, she says.
I want to be able to make my own deci-
sions and have that independence because
I was raised that way in the US.
ROYAL RETI CENCE
The determination to make it on her own
terms is something echoed by Sisowath
Vic, who says he initially had trouble adjust-
ing to the Cambodian workplace because
of the impact his name had on co-workers.
I remember my boss when I rst came
in. He asked, What should we call you,
how should we address you? And I said,
Oh no just call me Vic. I dont like being
addressed by my title or insist on it, some
of my family members do.
Vics sister-in-law Phala says she met her
husband in Phnom Penh in the early1990s
when he returned from the US as one of the
rst wave of younger royals to do so. She
had no idea he was a prince and probably
wouldnt have spoken to him if she did
know.
The rst time I met him I didnt know
he was from the royal family I just spoke
to him in normal Khmer. I called him uncle,
because at that time I was young. After
three months his driver told me, Oh youre
so lucky you meet the prince. I said, What
prince? and he told me.
Once the surprise wore off, Phala says
her next feeling was embarrassment tinged
with slight fear. I only knew he was a
Cambodian from the States and it was
nice to talk to him, but when I knew that
hes from the royal family I was like, Oh I
dont want to meet him anymore. I was
so scared you know. Im from a normal
family and I didnt know how to address
him properly.
Her husband, Prince Chivannariddh,
who works as a deputy commercial man-
ager at Phnom Penh International Airport,
agrees that sometimes holding a title can
be an impediment to getting to know
people, especially in the workplace, but
that usually changes with time.
Definitely, my co-workers were es-
pecially unsure how to address me in a
proper way at first. But once they got to
know me, they discovered I was not much
different from any ordinary person and it
was easy after that, he says.
For younger royals, holding a title and
earning a living go hand in hand, says
Nikko, who plans to enroll at a business
college in Japan next year.
One thing about the royal family in
Cambodia, its very different from [some]
foreign royal families... where just by being
a member you get benefits, the money the
house, everything, he says.
We have to work our asses off and
have our own job. We get more freedom,
but we have to be much more indepen-
dent and depend on ourselves rather than
people providing for us.
S I S O W A T H B I J O U
15 S T UDE NT
After King Father Norodom Sihanouk was toppled in a pro-US coup
led by Lon Nol in March 1970, he ed into exile in China accompa-
nied by several immediate family members.

These relatives either returned with him to Cambodia when the
Khmer Rouge took power, during which Sihanouk was held under
house arrest at the palace, or migrated to France.

Many additional members of the royal family also left Cambodia prior
to the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. These exiles
mostly headed to France or America.

Today, such royals and their children are scattered all over the globe,
with strong concentrations in France and the US. Some live in Aus-
tralia and Germany.

Norodom Sihanouk returned to Cambodia from exile in 1991, follow-
ing the Paris peace accords, and retired in 2004. He was succeeded
by his son King Norodom Sihamoni, a former professor of classical
dance who had been living in France.
"My co- workers were
especi al l y unsure how to
address me i n a proper
way at f i rst. But once
they got to know me,
they di scovered I was not
much di f f erent f rom any
ordi nary person and i t
was easy af ter that"
"Even though I spent a
l ot more ti me i n France
and the US, thi s i s sti l l
my country"

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