Cambodia to display ex-king's body for 3 months

The body of revered former Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk, who died in Beijing aged 89 on Monday, will go on display in Phnom Penh for three months before a lavish state funeral, an official said. The body is set to arrive in the Cambodian capital on Wednesday afternoon and a mourning period will last until October 21, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith told AFP. "(The) funeral will be three months later," he said, explaining that it would give Cambodians a chance to pay their respects to the beloved monarch, whose life encompassed turbulent years of rule, exile, conflict and tragedy, including the Khmer Rouge reign of terror. The decision was made at a high-level meeting in Phnom Penh, hours after news broke that the royal had died early Monday at a Beijing hospital following a heart attack. Cambodia's current King Norodom Sihamoni, who ascended the throne after his father Sihanouk abruptly abdicated in 2004, and Prime Minister Hun Sen have flown to Beijing to collect the body. Khieu Kanharith said he believed around a hundred thousand people would line the streets of the capital on Wednesday to mark Sihanouk's final return to Phnom Penh after spending the last 10 months in China undergoing medical treatment. Sihanouk's long-time assistant Prince Sisowath Thomico said he too expected a large outpouring of grief for the charismatic royal in Phnom Penh, where flags were already flying at half-mast on Monday. "We can expect many people along the streets when the body returns," he told AFP. He said plans to put the body on display were in line with Cambodian practice. "It's according to the tradition of the Cambodian royal family," he told AFP, adding that the same procedure was followed when Sihanouk's father, then King Norodom Suramarit, passed away in 1960.