Sihanouk and the teen from Santiago

Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s late king father and head of state who oversaw the country’s independence from colonial rule, kept friends in far-off places. One of them, a Chilean bookworm with a penchant for letter writing, became his private secretary, official biographer and confidant. It was a rather unlikely amity.

In November 1967, Julio A Jeldres, a teenager in Santiago, wrote a letter in Spanish to the Cambodian Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan that more or less asked, “What is Cambodia?”. Jeldres, the second son of a shoemaker and a history buff, possessed a budding interest in the world beyond the Andes and had sent similar queries to Thai and Laotian embassies. Cambodia was a new curiosity. Jacqueline Kennedy’s recent visit to Phnom Penh had been heavily covered in Chile, and the news had piqued the clever high schooler’s interest in the faraway kingdom.

A few months later, Jeldres received a reply. “The King has been informed that you are interested in his country. He is very happy and grateful that a person from Chile has taken interest in Cambodia,” read the hand-scripted letter. “Please believe in my unalterable affection, Norodom Sihanouk”. That was how Jeldres became pen pals with the king of Cambodia.

Extremely long and documented article to be read here

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/sihanouk-and-teen-santiago

the strange story of the official biograph of the previous king