Bảo Đại

In the Vietnamese name below, Nguyễn Phúc is the surname.

Bảo Đại 保大
Emperor of Vietnam
Bảo Đại
Emperor of Vietnam
Reign	8 January 1926 – 25 August 1945
Predecessor	Khải Định
Successor	Ho Chi Minh (as President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) Bảo Long (as Heir-apparent)
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)
Born	(1913-10-22)22 October 1913 Doan-Trang-Vien Palace, Huế, French Indochina
Died	30 July 1997(1997-07-30) (aged 83) Val-de-Grâce, Paris, France
Burial	Passy Cemetery
Spouse	Nam Phương (m. 1934–63) Hoàng Phi Ánh Bùi Mộng Điệp Christiane Bloch-Carcenac Monique Baudot (m. 1972–97)
Issue	Bảo Long (1936-2007) Phương Mai (b.1937) Phương Liên (b.1938) Phương Dung (b.1942) Bảo Thắng (b.1943) Phương Thảo (b.1946) Phương Minh (1949-2012) Bảo Ân (b.1953) Bảo Hoàng (1954-1955) Bảo Sơn (1957-1987) Phương Từ Patrick-Edward Bloch
Full name Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy Era dates Bảo Đại (1926–1945)
House	Nguyễn dynasty
Father	Khải Định
Mother	Hoàng Thị Cúc
Religion	Buddhism, Catholicism
Standard

Bảo Đại (Chữ Nôm: 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, which was the last ruling family of Vietnam.^[1] 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.^[2]

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 of Vietnam. Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm eventually ousted him in a fraudulent referendum vote in 1955.

It has been widely held that Vietminh or Ho Chi Minh founded the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam alone. However, Stanley Karnow in Vietnam: A History argued that "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."

Early life

Bảo Đại was born Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy in the Palace of Doan-Trang-Vien, part of the compound of the Purple Forbidden City in Huế, the capital of Vietnam. He later was 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 (born 9 December 1943). She was granted the title of Empress in 1945.

Bảo Đại had five other wives, three of whom he wed during his marriage to Nam Phương:

• Lê Thị Phi Ánh, a distant cousin, whom he married c. 1935, and by whom he had one daughter and one son, Princess Phương Minh and Prince Bảo Ân.
• Hoang, a Chinese woman, 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.

One of his concubines was a dancer from Hanoi, Lý Lệ Hà.

Independence and abdication

In 1940, during the second World War, coinciding with their ally Germany's invasion of France, the Japanese invaded 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 recent Japanese associations, 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 "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.^[3]

Return to power and Indochina War

As Vietnam descended into armed conflict — rival factions clashed with each other and also with the remaining French — Bảo Đại left Vietnam after a year in his "advisory" role, 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.^[4]

Second removal from power

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 October 23 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.^[5]

Life in exile

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.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.

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

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 van inscription on the reverse, medium cast piece with no reverse inscription, and small struck piece. All were issued in 1933.

• 
  Bao Dai Thong Bao 10van Paul the Great reign (1925–1945)
• 
  Bao Dai Thong Bao plain reverse
• 
  Struck Bao Dai Thong Bao

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."^[8]
• 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."^[8]
• 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."^[9]
• 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."^[10]

Remarks

Throughout the course of Vietnam's history, emperor Bảo Đại remains one of the most controversial political figures. This is due to the nature of the power struggles during his time, where "true" history was written and rewritten with political agenda, it is rather difficult to find a "true" neutral view on Bảo Đại. Most of the texts that documented Bảo Đại used in some of the reading material above are rather biased and one-sided and based on other sources that are biased and one-sided. Before finishing this article, readers should consider a few things:

Independence and abdication:

• Bảo Đại was a victim of a war/political propaganda that was created by both the Vietnamese communists and Ngô Đình Diệm's fraudulent campaign to tarnish his political influence while enhancing their own legitimacy to power.
• Bảo Đại was an advocate of peace, he strongly believed in fighting for the independence his country using diplomacy. He did everything he could to keep Vietnam from falling into another bloodbath.
• After overthrowing the French, the Japanese offered Bảo Đại a chance to declare an independence Vietnam from the French. This offer was unconditional, according to Japanese ambassador Yokoyama. While having some doubts at first, but Bảo Đại accepted this offer. Bảo Đại saw this as an opportunity to annul the effects of the French protectorate treaty signed in 1884 (Treaty of Huế 1884), in which, the colonial French promised to protect the emperor from any opposing forces (article 15). While the French did violated the treaty, there were still a number of bodies in France saw this as an traitorous act, thus there was an anti-Bao Dai sentiment among the French press and literature during that time.^[11]
• Vietnam was declared independent by Bảo Đại on March 11, 1945. He appointed Trần Trọng Kim, a renowned Vietnamese historian, as government's new prime minister. Initially, the Japanese only return the control of Trung Bộ (central region of Vietnam) to the new government, but diplomatic attempts by Bảo Đại government at the Japanese had gained them the control of Bắc Bộ (northern region of Vietnam) and eventually Nam Bộ (southern region of Vietnam or Cochin-chine) in August 14, 1945, marking the complete unification of the country. It is also note worthy that Bảo Đại new government did not immediately establishing a ministry of defense, deliberately, due to the fear that the Japanese might use it to fight their war and due to the fact that they required more time to build up the capacity of their future arm forces. The new Vietnamese governmental affairs were completely under the Vietnamese control, the government officials no longer have to report to the French or the Japanese.^[12]
• According to Frédéric Mitterrand's interview with Bảo Đại, which was aired on French national TV (Antenne 2), the Japanese did request the new Vietnamese government to aid them in their war campaign. However, Bảo Đại refused, reasoning that now Vietnam is independent, no one can impose any demands on the independent Vietnam or her people.
• Following the Japanese surrender, according to Yalta and Potsdam Agreements, the remaining Japanese military forces in Vietnam were to act as a security force and were not to be disarmed until the arrival of the Allies. On August 19, 1945, Việt Minh staged a revolt in Ha Nội and successfully took over Bắc Bộ. Around that time the Japanese force that garrisoned in Hue had already anticipated a possible Việt Minh's coup, and was ready to squash it. However, Bảo Đại ordered them to stand down, saying: "I do not wish a foreign army to spill the blood of my people'"
• Bảo Đại abdicated on August 25, 1945. He explained in his own autobiography Le Dragon D' Annam (Bao Dai, 1980): "They [the Vietnamese] want a revolution? I will give them a revolution, but without bloodshed...".

Return to power and Indochina War

• Vietnam descended into armed conflict due to two things: Communism and the return of the French. At the time of the Việt Minh's August Revolution, the Vietnamese, including Bảo Đại himself, had very little knowledge of what communism was. In the beginning the Vietnamese communists disguised themselves as anti-French patriots to join with Việt Nam Cách Mạng Đồng Minh Hội, which was a faction originally consisted of non-communist patriots. They quickly gained control of the faction, either by persuading/threatening other patriotic members to join their communist party and through assassinations. They later changed the faction's name to Việt Nam Độc Lập Đồng Minh Hội or Việt Minh in short.^[12]
• After his abdication, Bảo Đại agreed to serve as Hồ Chí Minh's "supreme advisor" due to the fact that he trusted that Hồ was a patriot, that he could bring back the stability to Vietnam with the supports of the people as well as the Allies countries such as China, the United States, and France. Little did he know that he was being played into the communist' propaganda machine. While working with Hồ, Bảo Đại quickly realized that Hồ Chí Minh only used his present to gain legitimacy for Hồ's newly formed "interim" government. He also met Vũ Trọng Khánh, Hồ's minister of Justice. Through Vũ, only then Bảo Đại realized that Hồ was a communist.
• When the Chinese army arrived in Hà Nội on Sept 9 1945, assuming their role of disarming the Japanese remaining forces, they caused quite a ruckus for the Hồ's "interim" government. On the one hand, the Chinese used the Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng (Vietnamese Kuomintang) to pitch against Hồ's party, disrupting its operations in Bắc Bộ region. On the other hand, they extorted Hồ by challenging his legitimacy to lead the country. Fearing the situation might get ouy of control, Hồ convinced the French to assume the Chinese's role instead. However, Hồ also feared that inviting the French back into Bắc Bộ might cause resentments in the rank of his followers and might even lose the supports of the people, he bribed the occupying Chinese (with gold) in return they would force all of these "shills" opposing factions to join with Hồ's government. This way, Việt Minh wouldn't have to take all the blame themselves when they sign with the French.
• Hồ Chí Minh reasoned that to ensure that the Chinese keep their end of the bargain, Bảo Đại, now the "supreme advisor", should to go to China to seek audience with Chiang Kai-Shek in Chongqing. Bảo Đại refused at first, but later requested to go along with the appointed delegation included: 4 Việt Minh representatives and 2 Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đàng representatives. He was "abandoned" in China "until further notice" by Hồ Chí Minh after meeting with Chiang Kai-Shek, without any money or luggage. Hồ left Bảo Đại a note urged him to stay in China because "it would be more beneficial" if he was not to come back to Hà Nội. After staying in Chongqing for more than a month, with the helps of a few friends he went to Shang-Hai, and then Hong Kong.^[13]

Collaboration

Collaboration, an ordinary word that we use to describe the action people of working together to produce or create something. But in any discussions about that time period of Vietnam, when used with Bao Dai, and only Bao Dai, it suddenly means a degrading, traitorous act of atrocity. Not Ngô Đình Diệm, not Hồ Chí Minh, not any other patriotic leaders, just Bảo Đại. One can’t help but wonder why. Was it because he took a jab at the American pride by accepting the offer that Japanese, an enemy of the U.S., presented to him to secure the independence of his country? Suddenly Bảo Đại, or anybody for that matter, became "the collaborator", "the traitor", the antagonist because he shook hand with the enemy of the United States? Was this a standardized American view of him? But wait a minute, one might ask, wasn’t the United States also an ally of the French, the "enslaver" of the Vietnamese people? Irony aside, how "neutral" is this "American view" of Bảo Đại? And what if he refused the Japanese offer? Would the propaganda headlines say: "Bảo Đại, the French warden, denies his people of independence"? What would any of us do in his place?

Let us discuss about the relationship between the Japanese and Vietnam. The Japanese were seen as an "enemy" to many who wrote about Vietnam during this time period, and it usually stops there. But in fact, the involvement of the Japanese in Vietnam was much more complex than that.

The ties between Vietnam and Japan can be dated back to many centuries ago. In the seventeenth century, the Japanese Shogunate authorized the establishment a few Japanese trade towns in Faifo and Tourane, Annam (Vietnam). It was mostly trade relations until after the Meiji Restoration period, there was a movement called "minzoku kaiho" ("liberation of people") which attempted to draw attention to the French Indochina. In 1874, Sone, a Japanese 1st lieutenant, started "Koa-Kai" [Pro-Asia Society], which focused on establishing national policy guidelines toward Annam, in resentment to the aggression of the French toward the people of Annam.^[14]

Many Vietnamese nationalists, including Phan Bội Châu, also looked to Japan as a country of interest. Many other nationalists, including Phan, also moved to Japan to study. The nationalist movements in Vietnam also received a reciprocal interest from the Japanese. When the Japanese military made its entry into the border of Tonkin, North Vietnam, in 1940, they brought along a number of Vietnamese nationalists who then organized a series of revolts against the French. It was the Japanese who helped facilitate many of the nationalist movements in Vietnam through the shell of many of their trade establishments such as Sawayama Trading Co, Taiwan Takushoku Co., etc.

Many of the Vietnamese nationalists, some of whom were hunted by the French, came to the Japanese for shelter and assistances, including Dương Bá Trạc (Đại Việt faction), Trần Trọng Kim, Lê Toàn (Ái Quốc faction), Nguyễn Xuân Chữ, Trần Văn Lai, and most notable of all, Ngô Đình Diệm.^[15] So, it is suffice to say under the eyes of these Vietnamese nationalists, Japan was an ally, to some, the "saviors", and certainly to the Japanese themselves, the "liberators". So then, why was Bảo Đại singled out?

And the Vietnamese communists, were they not part of the Komintern, an international faction? Was Hồ Chí Minh not answering to the chair in Soviet Russia? Were Hồ and his administration really nationalists when they denied the people their rights to freedom? How about Hồ and China? Were Hồ and his administration really nationalists when they blatantly declared that Spratly and Paracel Islands, which were under the control of the Republic of Vietnam, belong to China?^[16]

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

• Knight of the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri (Kingdom of Thailand, 1939).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour (French Republic, 10 September 1932).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia (Kingdom of Cambodia).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol (Kingdom of Laos).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (Kingdom of Belgium, 1935).
• Knight Grand Cross of the Sharifian Order of Al-Alaoui (Kingdom of Morocco).
• Member First Class of the Royal Family Order of Johor [DKI] (Sultanate of Johor, 21 March 1933).

Ancestry

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

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.

• Abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại
• Emperor Bảo Đại and Princess Vĩnh Thụy visit Thiên-Lý Bửu-Tòa's Cao Đài temple, 2 December 1982, San Martin, California
• On 20 May 2006, a ceremony at the inauguration of the monument raised in memory of Emperor Bảo Đại
• Emperor Bảo Đại and Princess Vĩnh Thụy meet supporters in France (in French)
• Emperor Bảo Đại's Rolex watch sells for record price at Geneva auction in USA Today
• Find a grave
• Biography and photos throughout Emperor Bảo Đại's life
• Emperor Bảo Đại MERCEDES 600 SEDAN LIMOUSINE

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