Late King Sihanouk Incinerated

Today at 6:30PM, King Sihamoni and his mother Queen Monineath put to fire the pyre that will cremate the late King. But nowadays, fireworks and modern burning techniques were used instead of woods.

16 dignitaries representing foreign countries were present, among them the Chief of Government of France who have said at a gathering that King Sihanouk now belongs to History.

Funerals of late King Norodom Sihanouk

The funerals start with the procession in great pomp of the Royal Body from the Royal Palace to the Veal Men where the incineration will take place Monday February 4. Thousands of people line up the streets for the 3 hours procession.

Vice Premier SOK An fainted and was rushed to the hospital. Government spokemail sid that the was just returned from France and was very tired.

In Phnom Penh Post:

A royal funeral for the ages
Joe Freeman and Mom Kunthear

THE STORY of Cambodia
can be narrated through
the lives of its kings, whose
deaths arrive with as much
spectacle and emotion as their ascensions
to the throne.
And so it is today.
After the morning’s procession
completes its loop around the capital
and finishes just north of the Royal
Palace, officials will place King Father
Norodom Sihanouk’s coffin in a pyramidal
spire at the centre of an ornate
crematorium. It will sit there for three
days, until fire consumes the remains
at dusk on Monday, February 4, to the
booms of a 101-gun artillery salute.
What onlookers won’t see at the
funeral is the meticulous planning
that went on behind the scenes, a
non-stop effort that took months.
It began almost immediately. Sihanouk’s
body hadn’t even left Beijing,
where he died on October 15 at
the age of 89, when senior officials
convened at the Royal Palace. They
discussed transportation back to
Phnom Penh from China, and they
appointed a special Royal Funeral
Committee, which met for the first
time about a week later in the riverside
Chaktomuk Conference Hall.
In collaboration with the government
committee responsible for organising
festivals, the group of royals,
political-party leaders, religious officials
and ministers launched into the
task of mapping out logistics for the
intense period of mourning and remembrance
that was about to begin.
Most of the funeral committee’s
work in the ensuing months focused
on designing the four-day cremation
ceremony that begins today. More ...