<p>Former Cambodian prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh died in France on Sunday, the country's information minister announced on Facebook.</p>.<p>The prince was elected prime minister in 1993 after years of civil war only to be ousted in a bloody coup in 1997 led by forces loyal to current strongman ruler Hun Sen.</p>.<p>Ranariddh, who was 77, died on Sunday morning following an illness, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith wrote on Facebook, citing a palace official.</p>.<p>In a condolence letter sent to Ranariddh's wife, Hun Sen said his death meant "the loss of an outstanding royal dignitary who loved the nation, religion and king."</p>.<p>The half-brother of current King Norodom Sihamoni, Ranariddh was the most politically ambitious of Cambodia's royals but he endured something of a rollercoaster career.</p>.<p>He won Cambodia's UN-sponsored election in 1993 at the head of the royalist Funcinpec party but was forced to accept Hun Sen as co-prime minister.</p>.<p>Hun Sen deposed him in a coup four years later and Ranariddh's reputation suffered further blows over corruption allegations.</p>.<p>He was pardoned in 2008 over a conviction for fraud which saw him ejected from the Funcinpec party, and made two more abortive political comebacks.</p>.<p>In 2015, he made an unexpected alliance with the man who toppled him, returning to Funcinpec in order to work with Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.</p>.<p>Personal tragedy followed three years later when his second wife Ouk Phalla, 39, was killed in a head-on car crash while on the election campaign trail with him.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>
<p>Former Cambodian prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh died in France on Sunday, the country's information minister announced on Facebook.</p>.<p>The prince was elected prime minister in 1993 after years of civil war only to be ousted in a bloody coup in 1997 led by forces loyal to current strongman ruler Hun Sen.</p>.<p>Ranariddh, who was 77, died on Sunday morning following an illness, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith wrote on Facebook, citing a palace official.</p>.<p>In a condolence letter sent to Ranariddh's wife, Hun Sen said his death meant "the loss of an outstanding royal dignitary who loved the nation, religion and king."</p>.<p>The half-brother of current King Norodom Sihamoni, Ranariddh was the most politically ambitious of Cambodia's royals but he endured something of a rollercoaster career.</p>.<p>He won Cambodia's UN-sponsored election in 1993 at the head of the royalist Funcinpec party but was forced to accept Hun Sen as co-prime minister.</p>.<p>Hun Sen deposed him in a coup four years later and Ranariddh's reputation suffered further blows over corruption allegations.</p>.<p>He was pardoned in 2008 over a conviction for fraud which saw him ejected from the Funcinpec party, and made two more abortive political comebacks.</p>.<p>In 2015, he made an unexpected alliance with the man who toppled him, returning to Funcinpec in order to work with Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.</p>.<p>Personal tragedy followed three years later when his second wife Ouk Phalla, 39, was killed in a head-on car crash while on the election campaign trail with him.</p>.<p><strong>Check out the latest videos from <i data-stringify-type="italic">DH</i>:</strong></p>