Cambodia’s Prince Sirivudh in hospital after stroke

Cambodian Prince Norodom Sirivudh. AFP FILE PHOTO

Prince Norodom Sirivudh is being treated in a Phnom Penh hospital after suffering a stroke last week that has left him partially paralysed.

The half-brother of King Norodom Sihanouk and former secretary-general of the royalist Funcinpec party was brought to Phnom Penh Royal Hospital last week, according to Prince Sisowath Thomico.

Thomico said the stroke was suspected to be caused by high blood pressure.

“He was brought in to the hospital several days ago and now he is getting better, but his left body is paralysed and can’t move because of the stroke that was caused by the cut of some blood vessels in the brain,” he said.

He said the 66-year-old was nonetheless progressing. “His memory is good because he still remembers us and is talking friendly with us when we visited him at the hospital,” he said.

Sirivudh has in the past served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and remains in several roles – including as member of the Constitutional Council, as Supreme Privy Counsellor to the King, and founder and chairman of the board of directors of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.

For a large part of his early political career, he lived in France and Thailand.

It remains unclear when Sirivudh will be able to leave the hospital.