Bảo Đại - wikipedia Bảo Đại This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( October 2017 ) In the Vietnamese name below, Nguyễn Phúc is the surname. Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy Emperor of Vietnam Bảo Đại Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty Reign 8 January 1926 -- 25 August 1945 Predecessor Khải Định Successor Monarchy abolished Chief of State of Vietnam Reign 13 June 1949 -- 26 October 1955 Predecessor Position created Nguyễn Văn Xuân ( as Head of Provisional government ) Successor Ngô Đình Diệm ( as President of the Republic of Vietnam ) ( 1913 - 10 - 22 ) 22 October 1913 Doan - Trang - Vien Palace, Huế, French Indochina 30 July 1997 ( 1997 - 07 - 30 ) ( aged 83 ) Val - de-Grâce, Paris, France Burial Passy Cemetery Spouse Nam Phương ( m. 1934 -- 1963 ) Hoàng Phi Ánh Bùi Mộng Điệp Christiane Bloch - Carcenac Monique Baudot ( m. 1972 -- 1997 ) Issue Bảo Long ( 1934 -- 2007 ) Phương Mai ( 1937 ) Phương Liên ( 1938 ) Phương Dung ( 1942 ) Bảo Thắng ( 1943 -- 2017 ) Phương Thảo ( 1946 ) Phương Minh ( 1949 -- 2012 ) Bảo Ân ( 1953 ) Bảo Hoàng ( 1954 -- 1955 ) Bảo Sơn ( 1957 -- 1987 ) Phương Từ Patrick - Edward Bloch Full name Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy ( 阮 福永 瑞 ) Era dates Bảo Đại ( 1926 -- 1945 ) House Nguyễn dynasty Father Khải Định Mother Hoàng Thị Cúc Religion Catholicism ( Former Buddhism ) Standard Bảo Đại ( Vietnamese : ( ɓa᷉ːw ɗâːjˀ ), Chinese : 保 大, lit. `` keeper of greatness '', 22 October 1913 -- 30 July 1997 ), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy, was the 13th and final Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling family of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was Emperor of Annam. During this period, Annam was a protectorate within French Indochina, covering the central two - thirds of the present - day Vietnam. Bảo Đại ascended the throne in 1932. The Japanese ousted the Vichy - French administration in March 1945 and then ruled through Bảo Đại. At this time, he renamed his country `` Vietnam ''. He abdicated in August 1945 when Japan surrendered. From 1949 until 1955, Bảo Đại was the chief of state of the State of Vietnam ( South Vietnam ). Bảo Đại was criticized for being too closely associated with France and spending much of his time outside Vietnam. Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm eventually ousted him in a fraudulent referendum vote in 1955. Contents 1 Early life 2 Marriages 3 Independence and abdication 4 Return to power and Indochina War 5 Second removal from power 6 Life in exile 7 Death 8 In popular culture 9 Bảo Đại coins 10 Quotes 11 Honours 11.1 National Honours 11.2 Foreign Honours 12 Ancestry 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links 15.1 Photos of Bảo Đại 's summer palaces Early life Bảo Đại was born on 25 October 1913 and given the name of Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy ( 阮 福永 瑞 ) in the Palace of Doan - Trang - Vien, part of the compound of the Purple Forbidden City in Huế, the capital of Vietnam. He was later given the name Nguyễn Vĩnh Thụy. His father was Emperor Khải Định of Annam. His mother was the Emperor 's second wife, Tu Cung, who was renamed ' Doan Huy ' upon her 1913 marriage. She held various titles over the years that indicated her advancing rank as a favored consort until she eventually became Empress Dowager in 1933. Vietnam had been ruled from Huế by the Nguyễn Dynasty since 1802. The French government, which took control of the region in the late 19th century, split Vietnam into three areas : the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin and the colony of Cochinchina. The Nguyễn Dynasty was given nominal rule of Annam. At the age of nine, Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy was sent to France to be educated at the Lycée Condorcet and, later, the Paris Institute of Political Studies. In 1926 he was made the emperor after his father 's death and took the name Bảo Đại ( `` Protector of Grandeur '' or `` Keeper of Greatness '' ). He did not ascend to the throne given his age and returned to France to continue his studies. Marriages Bảo Đại Vietnamese name Vietnamese Bảo Đại Hán - Nôm 保 大 Birth name Vietnamese alphabet Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy Hán - Nôm 阮 福 永 瑞 On 20 March 1934, age 20, at the imperial city of Huế, Bảo Đại married Marie - Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan ( died 15 September 1963, Chabrignac, France ), a commoner from a wealthy Vietnamese Roman Catholic family. She was subsequently given the name Nam Phương ( Direction of South ). The couple had five children : Crown Prince Bảo Long ( 4 January 1936 -- 28 July 2007 ), Princess Phương Mai ( born 1 August 1937 ), Princess Phương Liên ( born 3 November 1938 ), Princess Phuong Dung ( born 5 February 1942 ), and Prince Bảo Thắng ( 9 December 1943 -- 15 March 2017 ). She was granted the title of Empress in 1945. Enthronement ceremony of the emperor at the Imperial City, Huế Prince Vĩnh Thụy Emperor Bảo Đại Bảo Đại had six other wives and concubines, four of whom he wed during his marriage to Nam Phương : Lê Thị Phi Ánh ( vi ), a distant cousin, whom he married c. 1935, and by whom he had one daughter and one son, Princess Phương Minh ( vi ) and Prince Bảo Ân. Lý Lệ Hà, from Hanoi, c. October 1945, no issue. Hoàng Tiểu Lan ( born Jenny Wong ), a Chinese woman from Hong Kong, whom he married in 1946. Bùi Mộng Điệp, whom he married in 1955 and by whom he had three children, Princess Phương Thao ( born 1949 ), Bảo Hoàng, and Bảo Sơn. Christiane Bloch - Carcenac ( 1922 - 2009 ), during the period of 1957 - 1970. The last child was Patrick - Edouard Bloch ( born 1958 ). Monique Baudot, a French citizen whom he married in 1972 and who was styled `` Imperial Princess '' and renamed Monique Vĩnh Thụy. Independence and abdication Main article : Empire of Vietnam In 1940, during the second World War, coinciding with their ally Nazi Germany 's invasion of France, Imperial Japan took over French Indochina. While they did not eject the French colonial administration, the occupation authorities directed policy from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France. The Japanese promised not to interfere with the court at Huế, but in 1945, after ousting the French, coerced Bảo Đại into declaring Vietnamese independence from France as a member of Japan 's `` Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere '' ; the country then became the Empire of Vietnam. The Japanese had a Vietnamese pretender, Prince Cường Để, waiting to take power in case the new emperor 's `` elimination '' was required. Japan surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, and the Viet Minh under the leadership of Hồ Chí Minh aimed to take power in a free Vietnam. Due to his popular political stand against the French and the 1945 famine, Hồ was able to persuade Bảo Đại to abdicate on 25 August 1945, handing power over to the Việt Minh -- an event which greatly enhanced Hồ 's legitimacy in the eyes of the Vietnamese people. Bảo Đại was appointed the `` supreme advisor '' to Hồ 's Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi, which asserted its independence on 2 September 1945, but was ousted by the French in November 1946. Return to power and Indochina War Main articles : State of Vietnam ; First Indochina War ; and State of Vietnam referendum, 1955 As Vietnam descended into armed conflict -- rival factions clashed with each other and also with the remaining French -- Bảo Đại left Vietnam after nearly a year as Supreme Advisor to Ho Chi Minh 's Government, living in both Hong Kong and China. The French persuaded him to return in 1949 to serve as `` head of state '' ( quốc trưởng ), not as `` emperor '' ( Hoàng Đế ). He soon returned to France, however, and showed little interest in the affairs of his own country when his own personal interests were not directly involved. The communist victory in China in 1949 led to a revival of the fortunes of the Việt Minh. The United States extended diplomatic recognition to Bảo Đại 's government in March 1950, soon after communist nations recognized Hồ 's government. The outbreak of the Korean War in June led to U.S. military aid and active support of the French war effort in Indochina, now seen as anti-communist rather than colonialist. But the war between the French colonial forces and the Việt Minh continued, ending in 1954 shortly after a major victory for the Việt Minh at Điện Biên Phủ. The 1954 peace deal between the French and the Việt Minh, known as the Geneva Accords, involved a partition of the country into northern and southern zones. Bảo Đại moved to Paris, but remained `` Head of State '' of South Vietnam, appointing Ngô Đình Diệm as his prime minister. Second removal from power Main article : State of Vietnam referendum, 1955 In 1955, Diệm called for a referendum to remove Bảo Đại and establish a republic with Diệm as president. The campaign leading up to the referendum was punctuated by personal attacks against the former emperor. His supporters had no way to refute them, as campaigning for Bảo Đại was forbidden. The 23 October referendum was widely reckoned as fraudulent, showing an implausible 98 % in favor of a republic. As it turned out, the official results showed that the total number of votes for a republic exceeded the total number of registered voters by some 380,000 -- an obvious sign of fraud. Life in exile Bảo Đại 's burial place in the Cimetière de Passy, Paris In 1957, during his visit to Alsace region, he met Christiane Bloch - Carcenac with whom he had an affair for several years. This relationship gave birth to his last child, Patrick Edward Bloch, who still lives in Alsace in France. In 1972, Bảo Đại issued a public statement from exile, appealing to the Vietnamese people for national reconciliation, stating, `` The time has come to put an end to the fratricidal war and to recover at last peace and accord ''. At times, Bảo Đại maintained residence in southern France, and in particular, in Monaco, where he sailed often on his private yacht, one of the largest in Monte Carlo harbor. He still reportedly held great influence among local political figures in the Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên provinces of Huế. The Communist government of North Vietnam sent representatives to France hoping that Bảo Đại would become a member of a coalition government which might reunite Vietnam, in the hope of attracting his supporters in the regions wherein he still held influence. As a result of these meetings, Bảo Đại publicly spoke out against the presence of American troops on the territory of South Vietnam, and he criticized President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu 's regime in South Vietnam. He called for all political factions to create a free, neutral, peace - loving government which would resolve the tense situation that had taken form in the country. In 1982, Bảo Đại, his wife Monique, and other members of the former imperial family of Vietnam visited the United States. His agenda was to oversee and bless Buddhist and Caodaiist religious ceremonies, in the Californian and Texan Vietnamese - American communities. Throughout Bảo Đại 's life in both Vietnam and in France, he remained unpopular among the Vietnamese populace as he was considered a political puppet for the French colonialist regime, for lacking any form of political power, and for his cooperation with the French and for his pro-French ideals. The former emperor clarified, however, that his reign was always a constant battle and a balance between preserving the monarchy and the integrity of the nation versus fealty to the French authorities. Ultimately, power devolved away from his person and into ideological camps and in the face of Diem 's underestimated influences on factions within the empire. Death Bảo Đại died in a military hospital in Paris, France, on 30 July 1997. He was interred in the Cimetière de Passy. After his death, his eldest son, Crown Prince Bảo Long, inherited the position of head of the Nguyễn Dynasty. Crown Prince Bao Long died on 28 July 2007 and his younger brother Bảo Thắng succeeded him as head of the Nguyen dynasty. In popular culture Bảo Đại was portrayed by actor Huỳnh Anh Tuấn in the 2004 Vietnamese miniseries Ngọn nến Hoàng cung ( A Candle in the Imperial Palace ). Bảo Đại coins Main article : Bảo Đại Thông Bảo The last cash coin ever produced in the world bears the name of Bảo Đại in Chinese characters. There are three types of this coin. Large cast piece with 10 văn inscription on the reverse, medium cast piece with no reverse inscription, and small struck piece. All were issued in 1933. Bảo Đại Thông Bảo 10 văn Paul the Great reign ( 1925 -- 1945 ) Bảo Đại Thông Bảo plain reverse Struck Bảo Đại Thông Bảo Quotes In 1945 when the Japanese colonel in charge of the Hue garrison told Bảo Đại that he had ( in line with the orders of the Allied commander ) taken measures ensuring the security of the Imperial Palace and those within it against a possible Việt Minh coup, Bảo Đại dismissed the protection declaring `` I do not wish a foreign army to spill the blood of my people. '' He explained his abdication in 1945 saying `` I would prefer to be a citizen of an independent country rather than Emperor of an enslaved one. '' When, after World War II, France attempted to counter Hồ Chí Minh 's popularity and gain the support of the U.S. by creating a puppet government with him, he said `` What they call a Bảo Đại solution turns out to be just a French solution. '' In a rare public statement from France in 1972, Bảo Đại appealed to the people of Vietnam for national reconciliation, saying `` The time has come to put an end to the fratricidal war and to recover at last peace and accord. '' Honours National honours Sovereign and Grand Master of the Imperial Order of the Dragon of Annam. Sovereign and Grand Master of the Imperial Order of Merit of Annam ( revived and expanded as the National Order of Vietnam on 10 June 1955 ). Foreign honours Thailand : Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri ( Kingdom of Thailand, 1939 ). France : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour ( 10 September 1932 ). Cambodia : Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia. Laos : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol. Belgium : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown ( 1935 ). Morocco : Knight Grand Cross of the Sharifian Order of Al - Alaoui ( Kingdom of Morocco ). Johor : Member First Class of the Royal Family Order of Johor ( DKI ) ( 21 March 1933 ). Ancestry show Ancestors of Bảo Đại 16. Thiệu Trị 8. Hồng Cai, Duke of Kiến 4. Đồng Khánh 9. Búi Thị Thạnh 2. Khải Định 10. Dương Quang Hường, Duke of Phú Lộc 5. Hựu Thiên Thuần 1. Bảo Đại 6. Hoàng Văn Tích, Duke of Nghi 3. Hoàng Thị Cúc References Jump up ^ Nghia M. Vo Saigon : A History 2011 -- Page 277 `` Bảo Đại was born in 1913, the 13th and last monarch of the Nguyễn dynasty. He ruled from 1926 to 1944 as emperor of Annam and emperor '' Jump up ^ Royal Ark Jump up ^ Stanley Karnow, Vietnam : A History p162 `` Nothing has reinforced the Vietminh cause more than the mercurial Bao Dai 's decision to abdicate. For his gesture conferred the ' mandate of heaven ' on Ho, giving him the legitimacy that, in Vietnamese eyes, had traditionally resided in the emperor. '' Jump up ^ David G. Marr Vietnam : State, War, Revolution, 1945 - 1946 p20 `` The royal mandarinal hierarchies for education, administration, and justice were abolished, while Mr. Vĩnh Thụy ( formerly Emperor Bảo Đại ) was appointed advisor to the DRV provisional government. '' Jump up ^ Interview with Ngô Đình Luyến. WGBH Media Library and Archives. 31 January 1979. Jump up ^ Direct Democracy Jump up ^ oral communication ( Patrick Edward Bloch ) and sections of the `` Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace '' ( D.N.A ), n °. 264 of 10 nov. 1992 and from 7 August 2007. Jump up ^ `` RENAISSANCE DE HUE - Site de maguy tran - pinterville '' ( in French ). Archived from the original on 2015 - 03 - 20. Jump up ^ D. Fineman ( 1997 ). A Special Relationship : The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947 -- 1958. University of Hawaii Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780824818180. ^ Jump up to : D.G. Marr ( 1997 ). Vietnam 1945 : The Quest for Power. London, England : University of California Press. ISBN 9780520212282. Jump up ^ H.R. McMaster ( 1998 ). Dereliction of Duty : Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam. New York, NY : HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060929084. Jump up ^ P. Shenon ( 2 August 1997 ). `` Bao Dai, 83, of Vietnam ; Emperor and Bon Vivant ''. New York Times. Further reading Bảo Đại 's memoirs have been published in French and in Vietnamese ; the Vietnamese version appears considerably longer. Bảo Đại ( 1980 ). Le dragon d'Annam ( in French ). Paris : Plon. ISBN 9782259005210. Bảo Đại ( 1990 ). Con rong Viet Nam : hoi ky chanh tri 1913 -- 1987 ( in Vietnamese ). Los Alamitos, CA : Nguyen Phuoc Toc ( distributed by Xuan Thu Publishing ). OCLC 22628825. Bruce McFarland Lockhart ( 1993 ). The End of the Vietnamese Monarchy. Lac Viet Series. 15. New Haven, CT : Yale Center for International and Area Studies. ISBN 9780938692508. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emperor Bảo Đại. The Nguyen Phuoc Dynasty Genealogy, page 10, http://4dw.net/royalark Newspaper clippings about Bảo Đại in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics ( ZBW ) Photos of Bảo Đại 's summer palaces Dalat Web citation Images Bảo Đại House of Nguyễn Phúc Born : 22 October 1913 Died : 30 July 1997 Regnal titles Preceded by Khải Định Emperor of Vietnam 8 January 1926 -- 25 August 1945 Abdicated Political offices Preceded by Nguyễn Văn Xuân as president Head of State 13 June 1949 -- 30 April 1955 Succeeded by Ngô Đình Diệm Titles in pretence Loss of title Abdicated -- TITULAR -- Emperor of Vietnam 25 August 1945 -- 30 July 1997 Succeeded by Bảo Long Emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty Gia Long Minh Mạng Thiệu Trị Tự Đức Dục Đức Hiệp Hòa Kiến Phúc Hàm Nghi Đồng Khánh Thành Thái Duy Tân Khải Định Bảo Đại Pretenders to the Vietnamese throne since 1945 Bảo Đại ( 1945 -- 1997 ) Bảo Long ( 1997 -- 2007 ) Bảo Thắng ( 2007 - 2017 ) Bảo Ân ( since 2017 ) Heads of state of Vietnam since 1945 Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( 1945 -- 76 ) Hồ Chí Minh Huỳnh Thúc Kháng Tôn Đức Thắng State of Vietnam ( 1949 -- 55 ) Bảo Đại Ngô Đình Diệm Republic of Vietnam ( 1955 -- 75 ) Ngô Đình Diệm Dương Văn Minh Nguyễn Khánh Provisional Leadership Committee Dương Văn Minh Phan Khắc Sửu Nguyễn Văn Thiệu Trần Văn Hương Dương Văn Minh Republic of South Vietnam ( 1969 -- 76 ) Nguyễn Hữu Thọ Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( 1976 -- present ) Tôn Đức Thắng ( 1976 -- 1980 ) Nguyễn Hữu Thọ ( 1980 -- 1981 ) Council of State ( 1981 -- 1987 ) ( Chairman : Trường Chinh ) Council of State ( 1987 -- 1992 ) ( Chairman : Võ Chí Công ) Lê Đức Anh ( 1992 -- 1997 ) Trần Đức Lương ( 1997 -- 2006 ) Nguyễn Minh Triết ( 2006 -- 2011 ) Trương Tấn Sang ( 2011 -- 2016 ) Trần Đại Quang ( 2016 -- present ) acting military collective leadership Prime Ministers of Vietnam Empire of Vietnam ( 1945 ) Trần Trọng Kim Republic of Cochinchina ( 1946 -- 49 ) Nguyễn Văn Thinh Lê Văn Hoạch Nguyễn Văn Xuân Trần Văn Hữu Provisional Central Government of Vietnam ( 1948 -- 49 ) Nguyễn Văn Xuân State of Vietnam ( 1949 -- 55 ) Bảo Đại Nguyễn Phan Long Trần Văn Hữu Nguyễn Văn Tâm Bửu Lộc Phan Huy Quát Ngô Đình Diệm Republic of Vietnam ( 1955 -- 75 ) Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ Nguyễn Khánh Nguyễn Xuân Oánh Nguyễn Khánh Trần Văn Hương Nguyễn Xuân Oánh Phan Huy Quát Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Nguyễn Văn Lộc Trần Văn Hương Trần Thiện Khiêm Nguyễn Bá Cẩn Vũ Văn Mẫu Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( 1945 -- 76 ) Ho Chi Minh Phạm Văn Đồng Republic of South Vietnam ( 1975 -- 76 ) Huỳnh Tấn Phát Socialist Republic of Vietnam ( 1976 -- ) Phạm Văn Đồng Phạm Hùng Võ Văn Kiệt Đỗ Mười Võ Văn Kiệt Phan Văn Khải Nguyễn Tấn Dũng Nguyễn Xuân Phúc acting head of a military government BNF : cb12467222x ( data ) GND : 122912799 ISNI : 0000 0000 6321 4664 LCCN : nr95039047 NARA : 10583532 SUDOC : 033857431 VIAF : 18117640 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title= Bảo_Đại&oldid = 853397605 '' Categories : 1913 births 1997 deaths People from Huế Nguyen dynasty emperors World War II political leaders Vietnamese anti-communists Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War Sciences Po alumni Converts to Roman Catholicism from Buddhism Vietnamese Roman Catholics Child rulers from Asia Vietnamese expatriates in France Lycée Condorcet alumni Disease - related deaths in France Vietnamese monarchists Burials at Passy Cemetery Recipients of the Royal Order of Cambodia Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur First Classes of the Royal Family Order of Johor Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown ( Belgium ) Grand Crosses of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite Hidden categories : CS1 French - language sources ( fr ) Articles lacking in - text citations from October 2017 All articles lacking in - text citations Use dmy dates from October 2012 Pages using infobox royalty with unknown parameters Articles containing Chinese - language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2012 Articles containing Vietnamese - language text Interlanguage link template link number Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018 CS1 Vietnamese - language sources ( vi ) Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NARA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia تۆرکجه Bân - lâm - gú Boarisch Brezhoneg Català Dansk Deutsch Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Frysk 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano ქართული Қазақша Latina Lietuvių Magyar Mìng - dĕ̤ng - ngṳ̄ Nederlands 日本 語 Nordfriisk Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Simple English Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska ไทย Türkçe Українська Tiếng Việt 文言 粵語 中文 33 more Edit links This page was last edited on 4 August 2018, at 14 : 00 ( UTC ). 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Question: which famous royal person died in paris in 1997
Answer: Bảo Đại