尊室說
Along with his cousin Dục Đức and brother Đồng Khánh, he had been taken in by Tự Đức who was unable to have children of his own. After the regicide of Emperor Hiệp Hoà, the court regents Tôn Thất Thuyết and Nguyễn Văn Tường acted quickly to install the fifteen-year-old prince as the new Emperor. Kiến Phúc was quickly enthroned on 1 December 1883 at five o'clock in the morning.