Thursday, September 21, 2006


SPECIAL REPORT: Philippine History

Cambodia could have had
a Filipina queen named Josefa

By Augusto Viana

In 1872 the Philippines had a royal visitor. King Norodom I of Cambodia arrived in Manila on August 8, 1872, as part of a goodwill tour which took him to Da Nang and Hue in Vietnam and to Hong Kong, Macau and Manila. He arrived in Manila with an entourage of 85 retainers aboard the French warship the Bourayne.

The King, then 38 years old stayed at a mansion of the Count of Aviles on San Sebastian Street, now Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo Street in Quiapo. Later on August 12 the King wished to meet the people whose men fought bravely in Vietnam. Filipino troops under Carlos Palanca helped the French conquer Indo-China and were greatly respected as palace guards and artillerymen.

Upon arriving in Bulacan, the King and his party were met with much festivities by the leading citizens. Their daughters and ladies were in their best clothes and were presented to the King who acknowledged each lady with a gift.

Two sisters, Josefa, then aged 20, and Ana, then 14, caught his interest. They were among the prettiest among the ladies. The King was smitten by Josefa’s charm. He started the ball by dancing with the selected ladies.

In one of the pauses during the dance King Norodom proposed to marry Josefa and make her the “first queen” of his country. Respectful and well-mannered, Josefa politely declined saying that she promised to devote her life to the service of God and her parents.

King Norodom later presented the two sisters precious jewelry. Josefa received a gift of solid gold shaped like a heart with a letter asking her to accept his personal honor. The letter prevented Josefa from returning the gift for fear that she might break the royal heart twice.

When King Norodom returned to Cambodia, he arranged to take to his country a group of Filipino musicians to form a royal brass and reed band at the palace. He also promoted the officers of his Tagalog militia in appreciation of his visit to the Philippines. King Norodom died on August 17, 1904 and was succeeded by his brother Sisowath.

Josefa Roxas died in 1885. She was only in her thirties. The gift that King Norodom gave her was found in the collection of Dr. H. Otley Beyer. The gift given to her sister Ana was stolen along with other heirlooms. The thieves tried to sell the jewel to Estrella del Norte, one of the largest and most popular jewelry and watch stores in the country up to the 1950s. Its manager recognized King Norodom’s inscription and Ana Roxas was able to retrieve the item. She gave it to the Madonna and Child of the Most Holy Rosary of La Naval at Santo Domingo Church in Intramuros.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/s...060921top7.html

filo queen. she must of been very pretty.
reminds me of when i was in 6th grade & asked a philo girl to the yr 6 farewell dinner. i was rejected............her loss, nevermind, i ended up with a cute lao girl to go with me.

i wonder how would the king feel like if the king would have a filipino girls as a queen instead of that evil vietnamese queen, not trying 2 start a flame, but i heard our khmer king had a viets princess or queen watever u want 2 call it and she was a bad role model, she tried to let the viets ppl take more of our land.

I don't think she would be too happy because King Sisowath had several wives. :p

Where did ya get this?

Google news

what a bittersweet story lol

lol go cambos/flips...lol...I wonder? what would the philippines be like if they were a monarchy??? lol

they would have their children marry into other kingdom to secure eachother's welfare and bond alliances just like in the old days? + no spending money on election every 4 years ...

wow.. interesting.....

it seem like through-out history the thing that hurts cambodian land holdings the most is the heart of the khmer royals. i hear that is where most vietnam came from too. khmer royalty need to stop loving foriegn women so much! come to think of it...maybe my downfall too!

but those viet chicks r so cute............no disrespect to my Khmer gals.
The royals mite have too much slor gau-gau & just want some pho as well......just kidding.
yeah those kings......so horny.

i think the only flaw to marrying foreign girls is marrying into NEIGHBOURING foreign girls .. they had no problem picking up chicks from europe or india or whereever since those countries do not have their borders stretched to cambodia's border .. STOP DATING NEIGHBOURS ..

viet girls...way too hot...and always trouble (from my experience)...i say don't date them but i cannot say no! please help me *sobbing* hahaha



i think you may be on to something! neighbours are shady...i dated my neighbour before and it did not work out...lol