By Guy Delauney BBC News, Phnom Penh

Norodom Sihanouk has played a key role in Cambodia's history

Cambodia's former king, Norodom Sihanouk, is due to return to the country on Friday after an absence of almost a year.

He has been receiving medical treatment in China, and has also spent time in North Korea.

The 83-year-old was a key figure in the country's political life for more than six decades.

But in his absence the royal family's role in Cambodian politics has declined significantly.

Norodom Sihanouk has requested there should be no official welcome at Phnom Penh airport.

But his long-term sparring partner, Prime Minister Hun Sen, has arranged for a limousine to meet the former king, and it would be surprising if supporters did not turn out to cheer him into the city.

But Sihanouk will find that the political climate is much changed from the time of his departure 10 months ago.

Then, the royalist party Funcinpec was the coalition partner to Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party.

Now Funcinpec is rudderless. Its leader, Prince Ranariddh, resigned in the aftermath of a well-engineered scandal, and Hun Sen has been steadily removing its ministers from office.

It could mark the beginning of the end of the royal family's involvement in politics.

Sihanouk has returned to his other great love - film making.

He was behind the camera once again in North Korea.

But he is also keen to ensure the future of the monarchy.