Norodom Sihanouk was King, Chief of State and Prime Minister of Cambodia. He is known as Samdech Euv or by his nickname The Pink Prince. During his lifetime, Cambodia was under various regimes, from French colonial rule, a Japanese puppet state (1945), an independent kingdom (1953–1970), a military republic (1970–1975), the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979), a Vietnamese-backed communist regime (1979–1989), a transitional communist regime (1989–1993) to eventually another kingdom.