Focus on Cambodia, Parts 1 and 2, Cryptologic History Series, Southeast Asia
..The hostility displayed between Cambodia and Laos, its northern
neighbor, can be directly attributed to Prince Sihanouk-whom the
French dubbed "The Mad King of Cambodia" due to his unpredictable
and scandalous nature. Sihanouk has not been admired in Laos
since the time, shortly after he became King of Cambodia in 1941,
he paid a royal visit to Vientiane and Luang Prabang and was given a
Laotian Princess for a bride. The young King did not make the
Laotian Princess his queen, but kept her only as a concubine. Additionally,
a border problem further aggravated relationships between the
two kingdoms. Sihanouk wanted Laos to publicly renounce any claim
to territory in northern Cambodia that was once Laotian and to guarantee
Cambodia's frontiers. Vientiane was prepared to give the
guarantee if Prince Sihanouk would, in turn, guarantee the rights
and protection of the Laotian minority in the disputed area. He never
did...