Early life , Sisowath Kossamak, and
Norodom Suramarit. Sisowath Kosamak was the daughter of King Sisowath Monivong and Queen Norodom Kanviman Norleak Tevi. She married her prince Norodom Suramarit in 1920. Upon the death of her father Monivong in 1941, Sihanouk, her son and Monivong's grandson, was selected as the new king. In the 1940s, Kossamak famously choreographed the
apsara dance by training her first grand daughter, Princess
Norodom Bopha Devi, to become the first Apsara dancer.
1955–1960 In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father, making Kossamak queen consort. In 1955, Sihanouk married
Princess Monique, with whom Kossamak was not on good terms, leading to advisories blaming Monique for the sometimes strained relationship between Kossamak and Sihanouk and for Sihanouk's alleged initial hesitance to abdicate, as it would make his mother queen. As queen, she received foreign guests and hosted state functions, where the
Royal Ballet of Cambodia often performed.
Later life After the
Cambodian coup of 1970, Kossamak was forced to leave the royal palace by the new government and held in house arrest in one wing of Khemarin Palace to prevent her from becoming involved in any potential royalist uprising. She was however asked by the Khmer Republic government to mediate between her son and the National Assembly ‘in a last-ditch attempt to turn the people’s anger and save her son’. She was allowed to join her son in Beijing in China for health reasons in 1973. She died in
Beijing in China on 27 April 1975, shortly before her son and daughter-in-law returned to
Cambodia under the rule of
Angkar, the new
Marxist–Leninist organization after it came to power on 17 April and the beginning of
Year Zero, following the
Fall of Phnom Penh by the
Khmer Rouge. ==Honours==