Ballet dancer new king of Cambodia

Former ballet dancer Norodom Sihamoni ascended the throne of Cambodia at a ornate and lavish ceremony at the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh Friday evening.

Sihamoni was chosen Cambodia's monarch by the nine-member Royal Council on October 14, after his father king Norodom Sihanouk announced abdication a week earlier, reports Xinhua.

The second Cambodian king in over 60 years, Sihamoni, 51, is son of Sihanouk and Queen Monineath.

Sihamoni graduated in 1975 from the academy of musical art of Prague, Czechoslovakia, and spent another

year for higher studies of cinematography in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Xinhua said.

In 1981, he became professor of classical dance and artistic pedagogy, and in 1984, became president of Khmer Dance Association in France and director general and artistic director of the Ballet Group.

He was named Cambodia's permanent representative the United Nations in 1992, and was Cambodia's Ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, France from 1993 to 2004.

A bachelor, he is fluent in four foreign languages: French, Czech, English and Russian.