An estimated 50,000 people are expected to gather in front of the Royal Palace on Saturday for the finale of King Norodom Sihamoni’s three-day coronation ceremony, an official in the event’s organizing committee said Monday.
The coronation begins Thursday and will take place inside the palace gates for the first two days, said Chea Sokhom, first deputy secretary-general of the Permanent Organizing Commission for National and International Ceremonies.
During those two days, King Sihamoni will receive visits from monks, royal family members, senators, parliamentarians and other high-ranking civil servants and diplomats, Chea Sokhom said.
On Friday, the actual Coronation Day, 52 Buddhist monks will perform a morning ceremony to bless King Sihamoni. He will then receive his official title and a monetary gift from Minister of the Royal Palace Kong Som Ol, according to a schedule from the Royal Palace.
“The Coronation Day is the most important day for the King,” Prince Sisowath Thomico, adviser to retired King Norodom Sihanouk, said Monday.
On Friday evening, monks across the country will sound gongs, after which a fireworks display will take place in front of the palace, according to the schedule.
Inside, the royal family will be hosts at a feast to which diplomats and officials will be invited.
The King will also pardon an as yet unspecified number of prisoners, the schedule stated.
On Saturday morning, King Sihamoni will make his first address to the nation in front of the palace, said Chea Sokhom.
Prime Minister Hun Sen and National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh are also expected to make speeches.
Throughout the three-day ceremony, which will be dubbed a public holiday, music and dance performances are scheduled to take place throughout the capital. Fireworks displays on the river front are planned for each of the three evenings.
Earlier this month, National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh said that the Royal Palace had ordered a new gold crown and royal sword to replace the ones that disappeared during the Khmer Rouge era.
During Norodom Sihanouk’s re-ascension to the throne in 1993, a multi-tiered umbrella was used as a symbol of the monarchy in place of the crown and sword.
Throughout the various ceremonies this week, King Sihamoni will dress in the traditional apparel of a monarch, bedecked with the crown and sword, Prince Ranariddh said.
He also said the ceremony would be a “simple” one, because “our country lacks money.”
Military police and municipal police will be out in full force to provide security during King Sihamoni’s public appearance Saturday, according to a statement from the Phnom Penh Municipality.
City Hall has also ordered its Department of Public Works and Transportation to clean the roads and park in front of the Royal Palace, the statement read.
