His body is due to arrive in Phnom Penh later on Wednesday, marking the start of a week of official mourning.

 

As many as 100,000 people are expected to line the route the coffin² will take from the airport to the royal palace.

 

Grieving Cambodians wore black ribbons and flags flew at half-mast after news broke that the 89-year-old had died of a heart attack in Beijing.

 

In Phnom Penh, students wearing white shirts with black ribbons pinned on them sang songs before offering flowers at the royal palace.

 

"In the king's whole life, whatever he did was for the country, not for himself. So we are here to mourn him and we consider that he is a hero and I never had this sadness in 20 years," Lay Rithiya, a law student, told Reuters news agency.

 

Officials from the US, China, North Korea, Japan and other countries also sent messages of condolence.

 

Early on Wednesday, the former king's coffin was driven from the Beijing hospital where he died to the airport for the flight home. 

 

The government has ordered all radio and television stations to refrain from broadcasting any programmes that may be deemed inappropriate during the mourning period.

 

Sihanouk's body will remain at the palace for three months for people to pay their respects before an elaborate funeral and cremation³（火葬）, said the government.

 

Sihanouk became king in 1941 while still a teenager, and led Cambodia to independence from France in 1953.

 

He was a presence through decades of political and social turmoil⁴ in Cambodia, despite long periods of exile overseas. 

 

In later life, he emerged as a peacemaker who helped bring stability back to his country, after an ill-fated choice to back the Khmer Rouge⁵ in its early years. 

 

He remained an influential⁶ figure in his country, despite his abdication⁷ in 2004 in favour of his son King Norodom Sihamoni who, along with Prime Minister Hun Sen, is accompanying his body home.

点击收听单词发音