<p>Norodom Sihanouk, the revered and often mercurial former king and independence hero who helped navigate Cambodia through a half-century of war, genocide and upheaval, died on Monday in Beijing. He was 89.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Throughout a life of shifting loyalties and sometimes exile, Sihanouk saw his Southeast Asian nation transformed from colony to kingdom, from US -backed regime to US-bombing zone, from Khmer Rouge killing field to what it remains today — a fragile experiment in democracy.<br /><br />First crowned king by the French in 1941 at the age of 18, Sihanouk ruled as a feudal-style absolute monarch, but called himself a democrat. He was a cunning political survivor and a colorfully eccentric playboy with a passion for film directing, a man who sang love songs at elaborate state dinners, brought his French poodle to peace talks, and charmed such foreign dignitaries as Jacqueline Kennedy.<br /><br />When the murderous Khmer Rouge seized power in the 1970s, he was reviled as a collaborator. Yet he himself ended up as their prisoner and lost five of his children to the regime. Later, in the 1990s — after a UN-brokered deal to end Cambodia's long civil war — he recast himself as a peacemaker and constitutional monarch. Sihanouk had had been in China since January to receive medical treatment for a variety of illnesses he had suffered in recent years, including colon cancer, diabetes and hypertension.</p>
<p>Norodom Sihanouk, the revered and often mercurial former king and independence hero who helped navigate Cambodia through a half-century of war, genocide and upheaval, died on Monday in Beijing. He was 89.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Throughout a life of shifting loyalties and sometimes exile, Sihanouk saw his Southeast Asian nation transformed from colony to kingdom, from US -backed regime to US-bombing zone, from Khmer Rouge killing field to what it remains today — a fragile experiment in democracy.<br /><br />First crowned king by the French in 1941 at the age of 18, Sihanouk ruled as a feudal-style absolute monarch, but called himself a democrat. He was a cunning political survivor and a colorfully eccentric playboy with a passion for film directing, a man who sang love songs at elaborate state dinners, brought his French poodle to peace talks, and charmed such foreign dignitaries as Jacqueline Kennedy.<br /><br />When the murderous Khmer Rouge seized power in the 1970s, he was reviled as a collaborator. Yet he himself ended up as their prisoner and lost five of his children to the regime. Later, in the 1990s — after a UN-brokered deal to end Cambodia's long civil war — he recast himself as a peacemaker and constitutional monarch. Sihanouk had had been in China since January to receive medical treatment for a variety of illnesses he had suffered in recent years, including colon cancer, diabetes and hypertension.</p>