The King Steps Down

It was siesta time in Pnompenh, the capital of faraway Cambodia (pop. 4,500,000). No tamarind leaves stirred in the bright blue sky. In the monasteries saffron-robed Buddhist monks recited their scriptures; in the shuttered bazaars few bothered to tune their radios to a surprise communication from King Norodom Sihanouk, 32, their saxophone-playing monarch who had won Cambodia's independence from the French. "As your King," King" Norodom was saying, "I can no longer be useful to you. I beg you, permit me to leave my gilded cage."

In low-voiced Khmer, the recorded voice of King Norodom continued: "I announce publicly my intention to abandon power and the throne. I shall go down among my people, living with the humblest, taking nothing with me from the palace ... I designate my parents to succeed me."

The Sick Old Man. King Norodom listened to the radio playback, tucked into a square meal prepared by D'Artagnan, the best chef in Cambodia, and then got into his blue station wagon to change palaces with his parents. His father, 59-year-old Prince Suramarit, has long been his close adviser; his mother, Princess Norodom Suramarit, is a handsome woman who has long kept a sharp, appraising eye upon her royal son's dancing girls and political enemies. "I am a sick old man," proclaimed the new King, getting into the spirit of his son's abdication. "My son Sihanouk will help me."

Ex-King Norodom, an impetuous young man, had quit his palace once before to get what he wanted: more independence from the French. He had kept his latest surprise all to himself: 48 hours before his abdication, he had lunched with visiting U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and gave no hint of his plans.

The Rival. Only a month ago, Norodom called a public referendum and got an overwhelming endorsement of his rule. His ministers, however, are considerably less popular. The King's domestic opposition, the left-wing Democratic Party of Jungle Exile Son Ngoc Thanh (TIME, Feb. 21). complained to the neutral Truce Commission recently that King Norodom was about to violate the Geneva agreements. King Norodom had a project afoot to disfranchise Viet Minh Communists in next April's general elections, despite Geneva's insistence that everyone gets a vote. The commission's Indians, Canadians, and Polish Communists backed up the Democrats, and cautioned King Norodom not to violate Geneva (which the Communists have already violated in half a dozen more flagrant ways).

"I remain at your disposal if you ask me to help you," said Norodom, preparing to start a new popular movement among his people. Presumably, this meant that he would pit his own popularity, rather than that of his ministers, against Son Ngoc Thanh. Norodom's course, as usual, was a little uncertain, but certain to be hectic.

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