Prince Norodom Rannaridh (born 1944) became first prime minister of Cambodia in 1993. He came to the government along with his father, Prince Sihanouk, restored to rule after 23 years in exile.

Prince Norodom Rannaridh's career was as a politician, lawyer, professor, journalist, military commander, and aide and confidant of his father, Prince (onetime King) Norodom Sihanouk. Having received much of his advanced education abroad, and with Cambodia falling under the control of rival communist regimes during much of the 1970s and 1980s, Prince Norodom Rannaridh seemed at one point inclined to accept a comfortable life in exile. By the late 1980s, however, international efforts provided a settlement that gave a new formal position and legitimacy to Prince Norodom Sihanouk as head of Cambodia. As a result, Rannaridh himself was increasingly drawn into work on his father's behalf, including leading the political and combat organizations of Sihanouk supporters, known as the...