Knight's medal of the National Order of Cambodia

Silver medal of a Knight of the National Order of Cambodia, model awarded by Cambodia, with a Cambodian royal crown surmounted by a small cross, green and red ribbon, in very good overall condition. Note: a small, barely visible chip in the red enamel has been restored.

Since 1845, Siam and Vietnam had imposed a joint protectorate over Cambodia. Thanks to the intervention of France, which assumed the protectorate in July 1863, Cambodia regained its sovereignty and in 1864 crowned Norodom I as King. On February 8, 1864, he founded the Royal Order of Cambodia, awarding the first cross of Commander to Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, the Grand Officer's Cross to Admiral Pierre de la Grandière, and the Grand Cordon to Emperor Napoleon III.

From the decree of May 10, 1896, it became one of our colonial orders, awarded indifferently by the King of Cambodia or by the French government, then taking the name of the Order of Cambodia. It was an order with five classes, structured like the Legion of Honour:

– the ranks of Knight, Officer, and Commander;– the dignities of Grand Officer and Grand Cross.

The President of the French Republic was by right a Grand Cross of the Order of Cambodia.

The Royal Order of Cambodia rewarded the civil and military service of foreigners or subjects of the King of Cambodia.

From 1896 until the decree of July 14, 1933, the Order of Cambodia, awarded by the French government, rewarded:

– persons who could demonstrate a minimum of three years of actual service overseas, in the territories of Indochina and more specifically in Cambodia;

– those who, while not having served overseas, had nevertheless rendered services to colonial expansion.

As of July 14, 1933, new provisions were enacted: no one could be appointed unless they were at least 29 years old and had completed at least nine years of civil or military service or professional experience, with time spent overseas being counted as two or three times its duration, depending on the nature of the stay.

Like other colonial orders, a special contingent, established by decree, could reward services rendered by organizers, collaborators, or exhibitors at exhibitions or major events of a purely colonial nature.

It was abolished as a colonial order by the decree of August 25, 1948, and then, by the decree of September 1, 1950, became an Order of the Associated States of the French Union until 1955, the year Cambodia left the French Union. It was therefore awarded from 1948 onwards, solely as a Cambodian national order until its extinction with the Khmer dynasty. However, during his exile, Prince Sihanouk continued to award its insignia.