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Background: Cambodia's Prince Norodom Sihanouk arrived in Paris on Wednesday (2 October) on his way to New York where he will address the United Nations General Assembly on behalf of this country, which recognises him as head of state.

The Prince was in Paris for a medical check-up in 1970 when demonstrators in Phnom Penh sacked the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong Embassies, demanding the withdrawal of communist forces.

From Paris the Prince flew to Moscow and he was in the Soviet Union on 18 March, 1970 when General Lon Nol took control of Cambodia. The Prince then flew to Peking and spent the next five years in exile.

The Prince has given no indication as to what from his U.N. address will follow.

However, he did speak to newsmen at Paris's Roissy Airport on Wednesday, and told them that he saw his role under the new regime as "somewhat more than the Queen of England and the King of Sweden".

"I am a symbol of national unity, I am my country's number one Ambassador. We are not a Republic nor a kingdom, we are Cambodians", he said.

He also denied that there was any rift between him and the Khmer Rouge forces who took power in Phnom Penh last April.

SYNOPSIS: Cambodia's Prince Norodom Sihanouk arrived in Paris on Wednesday en route to New York where he'll address the United Nations General Assembly.

The Prince was in Paris for a medical check-up in nineteen-seventy when the first moves against him came in Phnom Penh. He flew from Paris to Moscow and was in the Soviet Union on the eighteenth of March when General Lon Nol took control of Cambodia.

The Prince is now recognised as Cambodia's head of state and sees his role under the new regime as "somewhat more than the Queen of England and the King of Sweden". He told newsmen that he was now the symbol of national unity.