PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Mourners packed the roadsides here on Wednesday to witness the final return of Norodom Sihanouk, the former Cambodian king and a pivotal figure through much of the country’s troubled recent history.

The body of King Sihanouk, who died in China on Monday, eight years after ceding the throne to a son, arrived in Phnom Penh, the capital, on Wednesday aboard an Air China jet from Beijing, and was driven through the streets under a scorching tropical sun.

“He was the father, and we are the children,” said Pich Ravy, a vegetable seller who traveled to the Royal Palace, where King Sihanouk’s body will lie in state for the next three months. “He was one of Cambodia’s greatest kings.”

King Sihanouk’s death at 89, after six decades of deep involvement in Cambodia’s often devastating postindependence politics, signaled the end of an era for Cambodia that was marked by long years of war and the bloody rule of the Khmer Rouge.