Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni Is Receiving Prostate Cancer Treatment in Beijing

Emily BurackMon, April 20, 2026 at 2:36 PM UTC

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King Norodom Sihamoni Has Prostate CancerLUDOVIC MARIN - Getty Images

Earlier this month, Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. “Esteemed compatriots, please be informed that following the most careful and thorough medical examination by the team of doctors at a ⁠hospital in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, it has been confirmed that I am currently suffering from prostate cancer,” Sihamoni said in a statement shared by Cambodia’s information ministry.

Following his diagnosis, he underwent surgery in Beijing today, and will remain in the hospital for further monitoring. “The medical team at the Beijing hospital has respectfully requested that His Majesty stay for further observation and continued treatment following the surgery,” the Royal Palace said, per the Phnom Penh Post. Hun Sen, the acting head of state, said he was visiting the King in China, and would return to Cambodia later this week if the monarch’s health improved. “The health of the king is the health of the whole nation,” Hun Sen said.

King Norodom Sihamoni, 72, has been monarch since his father, King Norodom Sihanouk, abdicated in 2004. His father King Norodom Sihanouk also had prostate cancer; he was diagnosed in 1993 but lived until 2012. He also received Chinese medical care, and abdicated because of his poor health.

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Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni in November 2025.Xinhua News Agency - Getty Images

The monarchy of Cambodia is an elective monarchy, with the king being elected for life by the Royal Council of the Throne. There is no line of succession. As King Norodom Sihamoni has no children, there is no obvious candidate—the next king would be from a pool of male descendants of King Ang Duong (who lived in the 1800s) and are either in the royal houses of Norodom or Sisowath.

As Monarquias Blog notes, “The next election, when it comes, will face a crucial difference from 2004: there will be no Sihanouk. There will be no figure of undisputed moral authority within the royal family capable of exerting the pressure that Sihanouk exerted on his own successors. The next king of Cambodia will be chosen, in practice, by whoever controls the government and Parliament at the time the Council is due to meet. And that is, at the same time, the system’s greatest strength—its political predictability—and its greatest institutional weakness.”

The council has seven days to choose the new king following the current king’s death of abdication.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”