By LOIS SMITH BRADY
The New York Times
Published: June 16, 2002
MARC COUMERI, 26, a quiet mathematician who likes techno music, met Princess Pekina Norodom of Cambodia, 31, nearly two years ago at 4 a.m. under the big disco ball at Twilo, a Manhattan dance club. Mr. Coumeri and Noel Thomas, his old math buddy from from Johns Hopkins University, were walking through the crowd on the dance floor. When they bumped into the princess, who prefers to be called Miss Norodom, and her friend Divina Kwok, Mr. Thomas took Miss Kwok's arm and danced with her. Stranded together, Miss Norodom and Mr. Coumeri began dancing, too.
Miss Norodom recalled thinking that Mr. Coumeri looked like Clark Kent and danced like a kangaroo. "He just hops all over the dance floor," said the princess, who said nothing about her royal lineage that night.
Mr. Coumeri and Miss Norodom danced for hours, past breakfast until noon, when the club closed. "It was pouring rain," Mr. Thomas remembered, "and we all decided to go for dim sum in Chinatown. It was really cute — Pekina and Marc had just met, and now they were walking around Chinatown under one umbrella, squeezed tight."
Miss Norodom is a granddaughter of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who was forced into exile by a coup in 1970 that opened the door to the Khmer Rouge. "The Khmer Rouge were killing all the educated people," Miss Norodom said. "You speak more than one language, you're gone."
Her family settled in Beijing, then still known as Peking, where she was born on July 7, 1970. (Seven is her lucky number.) Her name, Pekina, means Peking girl. When she was 10, her family moved to Connecticut. Today, she is more East Coast than Far East, working as a product manager at Timex, wearing black all the time, playing the saxophone and going skiing and snowboarding.
King Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh in 1993, and her parents, Yin Kim and Yuvaneath Norodom, rejoined him at the palace, with its ornate pavilions and staff of astrologers, gardeners and bodyguards.
"When I go visit," Miss Norodom said, "I have maids. People kneel at me and address me as princess. I feel like saying, `No need to kneel down.' I'm honored to be a princess, but I don't feel like one."
About 24 hours after she and Mr. Coumeri shared dim sum in New York, Miss Norodom called him and asked him out on a utilitarian first date — to the Ikea furniture store near Newark International Airport. As they wandered through the store, testing couches and pouring imaginary coffee for each other in the mock kitchens, "I thought, `I can picture myself dating this guy,' " she said.
Weeks later, she told him on the phone that she was the granddaughter of the king of Cambodia. "She asked if I recognized her last name," recalled Mr. Coumeri, who works at American Express in New York, using mathematical models to judge the creditworthiness of potential card holders. "I said, `No, should I?' "
He called his parents, Linda and John Coumeri, in Jackson, N.J., to tell them he was dating a princess. "My mother's first reaction was like, `Marc, don't you meet anyone normal?' " he said.
The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony at Phnom Penh's royal palace on May 30. Chanting monks in cantaloupe-color robes dipped roses in scented water, which they shook over the couple as a blessing. Afterward, a long procession of musicians in knickers escorted the couple and their guests across the grounds to the throne hall, where the king and queen waited to receive them.
"It was awesome," Benay Borow, the bridegroom's aunt, said. "How many palaces have I been to? Not many. The Helmsley Palace is about it."
Mulling over the statistical chances of meeting a total stranger in a club one night and then flying across the planet to marry her in a royal wedding less than two years later, Mr. Thomas, the best man, said, "It was an example of mathematical beauty."
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Read her uncle's story: Norodom Naradipo: A missing prince who would be king.
The New York Times
Published: June 16, 2002
MARC COUMERI, 26, a quiet mathematician who likes techno music, met Princess Pekina Norodom of Cambodia, 31, nearly two years ago at 4 a.m. under the big disco ball at Twilo, a Manhattan dance club. Mr. Coumeri and Noel Thomas, his old math buddy from from Johns Hopkins University, were walking through the crowd on the dance floor. When they bumped into the princess, who prefers to be called Miss Norodom, and her friend Divina Kwok, Mr. Thomas took Miss Kwok's arm and danced with her. Stranded together, Miss Norodom and Mr. Coumeri began dancing, too.
Miss Norodom recalled thinking that Mr. Coumeri looked like Clark Kent and danced like a kangaroo. "He just hops all over the dance floor," said the princess, who said nothing about her royal lineage that night.
Mr. Coumeri and Miss Norodom danced for hours, past breakfast until noon, when the club closed. "It was pouring rain," Mr. Thomas remembered, "and we all decided to go for dim sum in Chinatown. It was really cute — Pekina and Marc had just met, and now they were walking around Chinatown under one umbrella, squeezed tight."
Miss Norodom is a granddaughter of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, who was forced into exile by a coup in 1970 that opened the door to the Khmer Rouge. "The Khmer Rouge were killing all the educated people," Miss Norodom said. "You speak more than one language, you're gone."
Her family settled in Beijing, then still known as Peking, where she was born on July 7, 1970. (Seven is her lucky number.) Her name, Pekina, means Peking girl. When she was 10, her family moved to Connecticut. Today, she is more East Coast than Far East, working as a product manager at Timex, wearing black all the time, playing the saxophone and going skiing and snowboarding.
King Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh in 1993, and her parents, Yin Kim and Yuvaneath Norodom, rejoined him at the palace, with its ornate pavilions and staff of astrologers, gardeners and bodyguards.
"When I go visit," Miss Norodom said, "I have maids. People kneel at me and address me as princess. I feel like saying, `No need to kneel down.' I'm honored to be a princess, but I don't feel like one."
About 24 hours after she and Mr. Coumeri shared dim sum in New York, Miss Norodom called him and asked him out on a utilitarian first date — to the Ikea furniture store near Newark International Airport. As they wandered through the store, testing couches and pouring imaginary coffee for each other in the mock kitchens, "I thought, `I can picture myself dating this guy,' " she said.
Weeks later, she told him on the phone that she was the granddaughter of the king of Cambodia. "She asked if I recognized her last name," recalled Mr. Coumeri, who works at American Express in New York, using mathematical models to judge the creditworthiness of potential card holders. "I said, `No, should I?' "
He called his parents, Linda and John Coumeri, in Jackson, N.J., to tell them he was dating a princess. "My mother's first reaction was like, `Marc, don't you meet anyone normal?' " he said.
The couple were married in a Buddhist ceremony at Phnom Penh's royal palace on May 30. Chanting monks in cantaloupe-color robes dipped roses in scented water, which they shook over the couple as a blessing. Afterward, a long procession of musicians in knickers escorted the couple and their guests across the grounds to the throne hall, where the king and queen waited to receive them.
"It was awesome," Benay Borow, the bridegroom's aunt, said. "How many palaces have I been to? Not many. The Helmsley Palace is about it."
Mulling over the statistical chances of meeting a total stranger in a club one night and then flying across the planet to marry her in a royal wedding less than two years later, Mr. Thomas, the best man, said, "It was an example of mathematical beauty."
----------
Read her uncle's story: Norodom Naradipo: A missing prince who would be king.
18 comments:
BIG DEAL! None from the royal family are worthy individuals. They are alive but hopeless scums.
Come on Khmerization! The headline gave me the impression that I was going to read about a Cambodian Princess who is ALSO a brilliant mathematician. Instead, it was a disappointed read about someone who carries the name of the Chinese Capital (because her parents loved that city so much and had forgotten the cities of their birth country)and who is marrying a Yank. What is so news worthy about that? Plenty of Khmer, males and females, marry non-Khmers. Does she speak or read Khmer at all? looks like she is better in Chinese and English. What does she really know about Pol Pot?
As for the bridegroom being a brilliant mathematician, I think you are using the word quite loosely here. If he was working for NASA, or as a Mahts professor at some university, then perhaps he can be defined as brilliant, but a risk assessor with a credit provider? And to call the Khmer custome, Kben, as knickers says something about the reporter's lack of cultural knowledge.
If she was born in July 7th 1970. She is 40 year old, not 31.
Sweet Princess Pelina.
She was born in the royal family without choice but living in America as normal life like everyone does.
Pls leave her alone !
She has got nothing to do with King Sihanouk who is her grand-pa.
I'm also disappointed after reading this article. Why this could be considered as an acttractive news? Shy is just a member of Royal Family that is connected by blood but not Cambodian feeling and heart. Khmer girl has never decided to date with a foreigner a first or second meeting. I am worry that such person becoming a suppreme symbolic woman in Cambodia. If so, our culture is detroyed by exiled hybrid woman?
From Khmer Boran
Just remember: this year seven Khmer babies will be born, 4 males, 3 females, among them two twins who will divide their clan. They will be leaders of their nation at due time. Looking to them, nobody will understand. Through them fire and battle, peace and justice, balance and chaos, love and commitment. They will bring back ancient kings to life.
Wow we have some good news here at last. Please people stop looking wrong way and be cheerful for someone.
horay for the tabloid news!
wishing them the best. but kind of marriage, a 26 year old guy marries a 40 year old woman, would last. I think the dude, the mathmatician, has already gotten his equation in and otained a probable result. Not very long.
Guys, the article was written in 2002. They also got married in 2002, so the groom was 26 then and the bride was 31 then, not 40.
Their romance and their wedding was fascinating. She completed a degree in management and he is a mathematician. Both are well educated- congratulation to both of them and hope the marriage will last.
3:56 PM, is this a prophecy or what? is this a Preah Bat Thormeuk story?
Know them well in Eat Haven CT, this family is not a typical Khmer Family. They barely can speak Khmer, they can only speak Chinese, English and France. They not Buddhist, they go church only.They grew up in China,France and US hang out with Chinese and American 90% of time. Khmer to them is low class people.
If she was born in 1970, she is not 31 years old!
She is about 39 years old now.
When she almost reaches 40.
Come on, do the math right!
And he is a mathematician and 26 years old can't think she is a 40 years old??
The king is so a shame that he can not look straight ahead.
2:32 AM, please read the date on the article. The article was written on June 16th, 2002. So, at that time (1970-2002) she was 31 and he was 26. Please read carefully. Your math is correct but your reading is wrong! You are right that she is now 40 years old and that make her husband 35 years old.
king dumb family always going on the wrong way. married a foreigner a longway even before sihaknouk until today, just think about ranarith married a malaysian lady. this is a shame that those king family turn away their own pple for some spicy long big dick like that yakky princess, so she hope he will screw her everynite with his weapon of pussy destruction.
Your write up is nothing more than made up lies. Know them well? They have never lived in France and the family have Buddhas in their homes. What do you know? Gosh....The family adopted 4 Cambodians in Cambodia raising them as their own and they often do charity work in Cambodia. The father loves to interact with poor Cambodians in the villagers. Now, this is the real deal. Please shut yourself up when you have no correct information. Useless person!
Calling people scums when you don't know what they do for a living is more than scums.... In fact a person full of hatred for people you don't know. Go to the hospital and check your brains out!
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