Cambodia’s 72-year-old king says he has prostate cancer and is getting treatment in China

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni announced Friday that he has prostate cancer and will be undergoing treatment for it in China, where he was diagnosed with the disease.

In a statement he posted on his Facebook account and carried by Cambodia’s state news agency AKP, the 72-year-old constitutional monarch said he was diagnosed with the cancer during a medical examination at a state hospital in Beijing. He and his mother, Queen Mother Norodom Monineath, traveled there at the end of February for their routine checkups.

Sihamoni’s message did not mention how serious his condition is. Prostate cancer is usually treatable if detected at an early stage. According to the American Cancer Society, about one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetimes.

Sihamoni’s father, King Norodom Sihanouk, who also received Chinese medical care, was diagnosed with prostate cancer as early as 1993, but lived until 2012, when he died at age 89 in Beijing.

Sihamoni took the throne in October 2004, a week after his father’s abdication. Sihamoni’s role is largely ceremonial and he maintains a low public profile.

Before becoming king, he served as Cambodian Ambassador to the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, and was best known as a classical ballet dancer. He is unmarried and has no children.