Bao Dai

Bảo Đại (保大) (October 22, 1913–July 30, 1997) was the last Emperor of Vietnam, the 13th and last Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty.

He was born Prince Nguyễn Vĩnh Thụy in Hue, then the capital of Vietnam. After being educated in France, he became Emperor in 1925 (crowned in 1926) but was subject to French control of his government—Vietnam was part of French Indochina.

On March 20, 1934, at the imperial city of Hue, Bao Dai married Jeanne Marie-Thérèse (Mariette) Nguyen Huu-Hao Thi Lan (1914-1963), who was renamed Hoang Hau 1935; Hoang, a Chinese woman, whom he married in 1946 (one daughter); Bui Mong Diep, whom he married in 1955 (two children); and Monique Baudot, a French citizen whom he married in 1972 and whom he first created Princess Monique Vinh Thuy then renamed Thai Phuong Hoang-Hau.

In 1940 during World War II, coinciding with their ally Germany's invasion of France, the Japanese invaded Indochina. While they did not eject the French administration, the Japanese directed policy from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France.

The Japanese promised not to interfere with the court at Hue but in 1945 forced Bao Dai to declare Vietnam's independence from France as a member of Japan's "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." The Japanese had a Vietnamese pretender, Prince Cuong De, waiting to take power in case Bao Dai refused. The Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, and the Communist Viet Minh under Ho Chí Minh aimed to take power. Due to the Japanese associations, Ho was able to persuade Bao Dai to abdicate on August 25, 1945, handing power to the Viet Minh—an event that greatly enhanced Ho's legitimacy in the eyes of the Vietnamese people. Bao Dai was appointed "supreme advisor" in the new government in Hanoi, which asserted independence on September 2. Bao Dai role as supreme advisor did not last long and he went to China and stayed in exile in Hong Kong.

As his country descended into violence—rival Vietnamese factions clashing with each other and with the French—Bao Dai left the country after a year in the advisory role, living in Hong Kong and China. The French persuaded him to return in 1949 as leader and Emperor. He soon returned to France, however, and showed little interest in the affairs of his country when he was not being directly affected. But the war between the French colonial forces and the Viet Minh continued, ending in 1954 shortly after a major victory for the Viet Minh at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

The United States, nervous about Ho Chí Minh's communism, became strongly opposed to the idea of a Vietnam run by Ho after his government of the north, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in 1950 gained recognition from the Soviet Union and China. In the south in the same year, the French formed a rival Vietnamese government under Bao Dai in Saigon which was recognized by the United States and the United Kingdom, but did not enjoy wide popular support.

The 1954 peace deal between the French and the Viet Minh, known as the Geneva Accords, involved a Chinese-inspired, supposedly temporary partition of the country into North and South. Bao Dai moved to Paris, France, but remained Emperor of South Vietnam, appointing the religious nationalist Ngô Dình Diem as his Prime Minister.

However, in 1955 Diem used a referendum to remove the Emperor and form a republic, taking control of the South himself, while managing to win American support. The referendum was widely regarded as fraudulent, showing an alleged 98 percent in favor of Diem. Bao Dai abdicated once again and remained in exile in Paris.

In December 22, 1993, Bao Dai held a Imperial Audience and organized the Vietnamese Imperial Family Overseas Central Council in Los Angeles, California. He chose Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Phuc as Chairman, Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh as the General Secretary and and Ton That Ngoc as Deputy General Secretary of the council.

In February 2004, Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Phuc chose Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh to assume the Regency of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty Overseas Council and Grand Mastership of the Imperial Order of the Dragon of Annam, founded in 1886.

Bao Dai died in a military hospital in Paris in 1997. He was interred in the Cimetière de Passy, Paris. After his death, his eldest son Bao Long inherited the position of head of the family and dejure Emperor in exile.