ទស្សនកិច្ចជាផ្លូវអដ្ឋ នៅប្រទេស កម្ពុជា នៃ ឯ.ឧ.ហ្សាលដឺហ្គោល General De Gaulle's visit to Cambodia, September 1966

The most exhaustive footage on de Gaulle's 1966 visit to Cambodia, including the historic 'Phnom Penh Speech' calling the USA to end military intervention.

Source: RNK/ORTF Footage. | Rainbow 168 YouTube Channel

Language : French

Charles de Gaulle’s historic visit to Cambodia (30 August — 3 September 1966) was the occasion for Prince Norodom Sihanouk, accompanied by a radiant Princess Monineath, to show the world the prosperity and success brought by his neutralist stand in the midst of the growing military escalation and political turmoil in Southeast Asia.

Soon after their arrival aboard France’s presidential airplane, the president and his spouse, Yvonne de Gaulle, were invited to seat at the Royal Floating Pavilion at Chaktomuk — the Four-River junction — to admire a boat race (some 100 rowing teams were competing) and floating illuminations at a scale of a typical Bön Om Touk (Water Festival) celebration, even if the actual festival would happen only two months later, in November.

The French presidential couple, who was hosted at the Khemarin Palace inside the Royal Palace precinct, dined at Chamkarmom State Palace, designed by architect Vann Molyvann and completed for de Gaulle’s visit, and attended a special performance by the Royal Ballet of Cambodia at Chaktomuk Theater. Led by Princess Buppha Devi, prima ballerina and a daughter of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the ballet performed Preah Sothun — Neang (Keo) Monorea ព្រះសុធន នាងកែវមនោរា, a choreography created around the story of the Queen of the Emerald and the Buddhist monk-prince by Prince Sihanouk’s mother, Queen Kossamak Nearyrath. Village dances from Cambodia’s Northeast and a song composed by the Cambodian leader, “Le soir où je t’ai rencontrée” [“The evening I met you”], completed the program.

The following day’s highlight was the ‘mass meeting’ at the National Sports Complex during which President de Gaulle stunned the world by delivering the historic Phnom Penh Speech, the first public condemnation of the US military escalation in Vietnam from a major Western leader, complete with a not-so-veiled criticism of the American “interference” in the stability of Southeast Asian nations.

For the public event at what was later called ‘Olympic Stadium’ — the complex, also by Vann Molyvann, had been inaugurated in 1964 -, where a crowd of 100, 000 cheered the French president as ‘Pa Tua’ ប៉ា ទូអា, lit. “Godfather”, an elaborate staging was perfectly performed. A chanted prayer by 1,000 monks was followed by a young royal princess reciting a poem of friendship and peace in French alexandrines while thousands of balloons and pigeons were released in the sky. All the while, the crowd in the bleachers artfully shifted colorized placards to form slogans and images. The stunned reporter for American Life magazine wrote about “an enormous card-stunt mosaic”. This visual mass performance had been rehearsed at the stadium before, and was to be repeated, on a lesser scale, at the November-December GANEFO games.

1, 2) Queen Kossamak and Prince Norodom Sihanouk welcoming General de Gaulle and spouse at Pocheuntong airport. 3, 4, 5, 6) Arrival at the National Sports Complex, tribune, crowd and visual performance for the “Phnom Penh Speech”. 7) Royal Floating Pavilion and boat race on the first day of the visit. 8) Princess Buppha Devi (center) and dancers of the Royal Ballet of Cambodia performing for France’s presidential couple [screen captures from the film].

Moving to Siem Reap by Cambodian official plane, the hosting couple and its guests — they stayed one night at the Royal Residence — toured Angkor with Conservator Bernard-Philippe Groslier’s expert guiding. A fervent ‘gaullist’, Groslier proudly showed them the latest restoration prowess at Prasat Kravan ប្រាសាទក្រវាន់, the severely damaged brick temple dedicated to Vishnu in 921 on which the anastylosis reconstruction method had just been completed with the help of EFEO architect Guy Nafilyan along with several Cambodian draughstmen and technicians. In his journal, Groslier wrote about his elation at receiving ‘le Général’ at Angkor, and also his categorical refusal to welcome the then flamboyant French Minister of Culture, André Malraux, whose 1924 depredation at Banteay Srei had been firmly opposed by his father, George Groslier. Malraux, consumed with the desire to be part of the historic visit to Cambodia, had been warned that his presence was not desired, and so he stayed home.

The spectacular Sound and Light Show at Angkor, involving 600 extras and 900 monks, an elephant parade, and two Royal Highnesses, Princess Botum Bopha and Prince Noradipo figuring the Angkorean royal couple of yore, had been devised conjointly by Groslier, Vann Molyvann and Prince Sihanouk himself. The first Cambodian architect had to go to France earlier in order to obtain special lighting equipment from the Siemens tech company.

After the large and leafy Siem Reap boulevard leading to Angkor was named ‘Charles de Gaulle’ — later ‘Boulevard of the USSR’, ‘Charles de Gaulle Avenue’ again, and ‘Preah Sihanouk Avenue’ since 2023 -, the French president and Mme de Gaulle flew back to Phnom Penh, where they were received by Queen Kossamak and treated to a state banquet at Chanchaya (Moonlight) Pavilion before heading to French Polynesia for another state function.

1) At the Royal Palace [Life Magazine, 16 Sept. 1966]. 2) Part of the crowd and a giant painted panel at the National Sports Complex [Life Magazine, 16 Sept. 1966]. 3) Princess Monineath on the last day of the de Gaulle’s visit [screen capture from the film]. 4) Banquet at Chanchaya Pavilion [screen capture from the film].

One of the giant shifting placard compositions during de Gaulle’s Phnom Penh Speech [wide-angle shot reconstructed by Tieng Satya].

This is the unabridged, restored and colorized version of a film titled ទស្សនកិច្ចជាផ្លូវអដ្ឋ នៅប្រទេស កម្ពុជា នៃ ឯ.ឧ.ហ្សាលដឺហ្គោល [Visit of H.E. de Gaulle to Cambodia] produced by a joint team of Radiodiffusion Nationale Khmere (RNK) — the Cambodian national broadcast, launched in 1961 with Japanese technical support for the broadcasting network — and ORTF (Office de Radio-Télévision francaise), the French TV state company set in 1964. As for all international trips taken by President de Gaulle, a special reporting team worked with local journalists and technicians. The main photographer in De Gaulle’s entourage was photoreporter Georges Ménager (1929−1994), special reporter with French news magazine Paris-Match since 1958.

Tags: Charles de Gaulle, Vietnam War, neutralism, Norodom Sihanouk, Queen Mother Monineath, Norodom Monineath, Queen Kossamak, 1960s, Angkor Wat, Prasat Kravan