The mystery of the gigantic Asian princess photograph

July 21, 2012 7:10 PM

Two Asian restaurants near my house - I think the owners are Cambodian, but I'm not quite sure - recently hung in their dining rooms huge, glossy photographs of a very young girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, dressed in elaborate royal regalia and wearing heavy makeup. It's very striking (and a wee bit creepy.) Who is this girl?
posted by moammargaret to grab bag (7 answers total)

Is she a Kumari? More pictures here.
posted by charmcityblues at 7:24 PM on July 21, 2012 [1 favorite]

Kumari was my first thought as well.
posted by a girl and her dog at 11:58 PM on July 21, 2012

Was the "Who is this girl?" supposed to be a link to a photo? Otherwise, without a photo, it would be pretty hard to say. Could it just be some kind of souvenir photo aimed at Angkor tourists?
posted by blueberry at 11:59 PM on July 21, 2012

Kumari are Nepali - pretty different from Cambodian/South East Asian.

Why don't you ask one of the proprieters?
posted by lunasol at 12:29 AM on July 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

I can't tell you who she is but if the photograph looks like one of those Toddler Tiara kids, it is *all* over my Khmer friends on facebook, and I can ask them. By royal regalia, do you mean pagent-princess stuff with an Asian feel or specific Cambodian royalty type outfits?
posted by viggorlijah at 2:24 AM on July 22, 2012

Perhaps it is Matina Shakya, the current Royal Kumari?
posted by tomboko at 5:42 AM on July 22, 2012

Perhaps they are photos of girls performing Cambodian/Khmer classical dance. This Wikipedia article on Royal Ballet of Cambodia may help, as might this picture, to help compare costumes and crowns with the photos you've seen. This type of dance is not only performed by royal or professional companies. Here is a photo from a flickr user of a girl in an orphanage dance troupe.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 9:00 AM on July 22, 2012