Bảo Đại

In this Vietnamese name, the surname is Nguyễn Phúc. In accordance with Vietnamese custom, this person should be referred to by the given name.

Bảo Đại
Bảo Đại on throne in Thái Hòa Điện.
Emperor of Đại Nam and Empire of Vietnam
Reign	8 January 1926 – 25 August 1945
Predecessor	Khải Định
Successor	Monarchy abolished Ho Chi Minh (as president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam)
1st Chief of State of Vietnam
Reign	14 June 1949 – 26 October 1955
Predecessor	Position established Nguyễn Văn Xuân (as Chief of the Provisional Central Government)
Successor	Ngô Đình Diệm
1st Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam
Reign	14 July 1949 – 21 January 1950
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Nguyễn Phan Long
Supreme Advisor to the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
Reign	10 September 1945 – 16 March 1946
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Position abolished
Born	Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (1913-10-22)22 October 1913 Doan-Trang-Vien Palace, Imperial City of Huế, Annam
Died	31 July 1997(1997-07-31) (aged 83) Val-de-Grâce, Paris, France
Burial	Passy Cemetery
Spouse	Nam Phương ​ (m. 1934⁠–⁠1963)​ Bùi Mộng Điệp Lê Thị Phi Ánh Christiane Bloch-Carcenac Monique Baudot ​ (m. 1972)​
Issue	See List Legitimate Bảo Long (1936–2007) Phương Mai (1937–2021) Phương Liên (1938–) Phương Dung (1942–) Bảo Thăng (1943–2017) Unrecognized Phương Thảo (1946–) Phương Minh (1949–2012) Bảo Ân (1951–) Bảo Hoàng (1954–1955) Bảo Sơn (1957–1987) Phương Từ (1955) Patrick-Édouard Bloch-Carcenac (1958–)
Era dates Bảo Đại (1926–1945)
Chữ Hán	保大帝
House	Nguyễn Phúc
Father	Khải Định
Mother	Hoàng Thị Cúc
Signature

Bảo Đại (Vietnamese: [ɓa᷉ːw ɗâːjˀ], chữ Hán: 保大, lit. 'keeper of greatness', 22 October 1913 – 31 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc (Phước) Vĩnh Thụy (chữ Hán: 阮福永瑞), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was de jure emperor of Annam and Tonkin, which were then protectorates in French Indochina, covering the present-day central and northern Vietnam. Bảo Đại ascended the throne in 1932. He was a member of the House of Nguyễn Phúc.

The Japanese ousted the Vichy French administration in March 1945 and ruled through Bảo Đại, who proclaimed the Empire of Vietnam. Following the surrender of Japan and the subsequent August Revolution, he abdicated in August 1945 in favor of the Ho Chi Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam and briefly served as an advisor in its government.

Between 1946 and 1949, Bảo Đại left Vietnam to travel across China, Hong Kong and Europe. During this time, he switched his support from Hồ's Việt Minh to other anti-communist nationalist groups before signing a series of accords with the French Fourth Republic that established the State of Vietnam (as an associated state within the French Union) in opposition to Hồ's Democratic Republic. Cochinchina returned to Vietnam. He served as its Chief of State (國長, Quốc trưởng) between 1949 and 1955. Towards the end of his term in office, Bảo Đại lost power to his Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm, who was supported by the United States, and was eventually ousted in a referendum in 1955. He later lived in exile in Paris, France, until his death in 1997.

Viewed as a puppet ruler, Bảo Đại was criticized for being too closely associated with France and for his lavish lifestyle, including months-long pleasure tour in Europe that earned him the sobriquet "night-club emperor". He is perceived negatively by both the current Vietnamese government and the anti-communist diaspora but in moderation.

Early life

Bảo Đại was born on 22 October 1913 and given the name of Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy in the Palace of Doan-Trang-Vien, part of the compound of the Purple Forbidden City in Huế, the former 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 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 and Tonkin.

At the age of nine, Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy was sent to France to study at the Lycée Condorcet and, later, the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He became emperor on 8 January 1926, after his father's death, and took the era name Bảo Đại ("Protector of Grandeur" or "Keeper of Greatness"). He did not yet ascend to the throne and returned to France to continue his studies.

• 
  Young crown prince Vĩnh Thụy.
• 
  Young emperor.
• 
  Emperor Bảo Đại.
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  Bao Dai in coronation date, 8/1/1926.

Marriages and children

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 Catholic family. After the wedding, she was given the title Empress Nam Phương.

The couple had five children, two sons and three daughters:

• Crown Prince Bảo Long (4 January 1936 – 28 July 2007)
• Princess Phương Mai (1 August 1937 – 16 January 2021)
• Princess Phương Liên (born 3 November 1938)
• Princess Phương Dung (born 5 February 1942)
• Prince Bảo Thăng (9 December 1943 – 15 March 2017).

Although Bảo Đại later had additional children with other women, these are the only ones listed in the clan genealogy.

Wives and mistresses

• 
  Lady Mộng Điệp
• 
  Bao Dai and Lady Mộng Điệp

Nam Phương was granted the title of empress in 1945. By one count, Bảo Đại had relationships with eight women and fathered 13 children. Those named "Phương" are daughters, while those named "Bảo" are sons.

Name	Title	Issue	Note
Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan	Empress Nam Phương	Crown Prince Bảo Long (1936–2007) Princess Phương Mai (1937–2021) Princess Phương Liên (b. 1938) Princess Phương Dung (b. 1942) Prince Bảo Thăng (1943–2017)	The emperor's first wife. "Nam Phương" translates as "Southern virtue".
Bùi Mộng Điệp	Thứ phi	Phương Thảo (b. 1946) Bảo Hoàng (1954–1955) Bảo Sơn (1957–1987)	Called thứ phi phương Bắc ("Northern secondary consort").
Lý Lệ Hà	Mistress		Won Vietnam's first beauty contest in 1938 in Hà Đông. She publicly dated Bảo Đại in Hanoi in 1946. The couple later lived together in Hong Kong, according to her account.
Variously called Huang Xiaolan, Hoàng Tiểu Lan, Jenny Woong, and Trần Nỷ	Mistress	Phương An	Mixed Chinese-Vietnamese Hong Kong actress who had an affair with Bảo Đại 1946 when he was in Hong Kong.
Lê Thị Phi Ánh	Thứ phi	Phương Minh (1949–2012) Bảo Ân (b. 1953)	Sister-in-law of Prime Minister Phan Văn Giáo
Vicky	Mistress	Phương Từ (1955)	This daughter by a French woman has "a half European Asian beauty."
Christiane Bloch-Carcenac	Mistress	Patrick-Édouard Bloch-Carcenac (b. 1958)	Affair occurred in 1957–1970
Monique Baudot	Imperial princess Self-styled Empress Thái Phương		Second wife. She was a French citizen whom Bảo Đại married in 1972.

Abdication

Main articles: Empire of Vietnam and Abdication of Bảo Đại

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" on 11 March 1945; the country became the Empire of Vietnam. A modern Western-style cabinet was formed for the first time in Vietnamese history (led by Trần Trọng Kim), and the new government intended to turn Vietnam into a constitutional monarchy but failed. On 14 August 1945, Vietnam regained Cochinchina. However, due to the tight control of the Japanese military during wartime, his Empire of Vietnam was a puppet state.

Bảo Đại appeared to believe that independence was an irreversible course. In August 1945, before being overthrown, he wrote to Charles de Gaulle, leader of France:

You have suffered too much during four deadly years, not to understand that the Vietnamese people, who have a history of twenty centuries and an often glorious past, no longer wish, no longer can support any foreign domination or foreign administration... You could understand even better if you were able to see what is happening here, if you were able to sense the desire for independence that has been smoldering in the bottom of all hearts and which no human force can any longer hold back. Even if you were to arrive to re-establish a French administration here, it would no longer be obeyed; each village would be a nest of resistance. every former friend an enemy, and your officials and colonials themselves would ask to depart from this unbreathable atmosphere.

The Japanese had a Vietnamese exile, Prince Cường Để, waiting to take power in case the new emperor's "elimination" was required. Japan de facto surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, and the Viet Minh (de facto ruled by communists) aimed to take power in a free Vietnam. Bảo Đại and his Prime Minister refused the Japanese request for assistance, supporting the peaceful transfer of power and national interests. They initially did know that the Viet Minh was a political alliance led by the communists. The Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh was able to persuade Bảo Đại to abdicate on 25 August 1945 due to the great prestige of this organization, handing power over to the Việt Minh – an event which greatly enhanced Hồ's legitimacy in the eyes of the Vietnamese people. Bảo Đại had great prestige with the Vietnamese people and non-communist factions and was used by the Viet Minh to bolster its image. He was appointed the "supreme advisor" to Hồ's Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Hanoi, which declared its independence on 2 September 1945. Then, he became a member of its parliament. Intailly no country recognized it. The French attacked the DRV on 23 September 1945 to restore its colonial rule, but with Allied recognition and a major democratic reform plan. Negotiations between the two sides, although taking place from March the following year, were not smooth due to tough actions from both sides. In addition, there was the repression of the nationalists by the Viet Minh from August 1945. On 19 December 1946, war between France and the Viet Minh (DRV) broke out.

• 
  Declaration of Empire of Vietnam in 1945
• 
  The National assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on 2 March 1946, supreme advisor Vĩnh Thụy (Bảo Đại), sixth from right to left, next to President Ho Chi Minh (middle).
• 
  Bảo Đại (right) as the "supreme advisor" to the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam led by president Ho Chi Minh (left), September 1945
• 
  Members of national assembly of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Bảo Đại (far right).

Flag of Bảo Đại (保大)

First Indochina War and return to power

Main articles: State of Vietnam and First Indochina War

Bảo Đại spent a few months as "supreme advisor" to the DRV, during which period Vietnam descended into armed conflict between rival Vietnamese factions and the French. He left this post in 1946 after communists de facto abandoned him in China. He moved to Hong Kong, where the French and Việt Minh both attempted unsuccessfully to solicit him for political support. In Hong Kong, Bao Dai met with Americans who supported Vietnam's national aspirations but opposed communism. General George Marshall, the US representative, brought the agreement with Bao Dai to President Harry S. Truman.

Postcard depicts the return of Bảo Đại from Hong Kong

In late 1946, before war broke out between France and the communist Viet Minh, exiled leaders of the Việt Cách and the VNQDĐ in China (Nguyễn Hải Thần, Vũ Hồng Khanh, Nguyễn Tường Tam), went to Hong Kong to meet Bảo Đại and advise him to return to power. They were followed by a series of other Vietnamese nationalists. A coalition of Vietnamese anti-communist nationalists formed a political alliance on 17 February 1947 in Nanjing and was later quickly expanded (including future South Vietnamese leader Ngô Đình Diệm and members of political/religious groups such as the Cao Dai, Hòa Hảo, and VNQDĐ), declaring to support Bảo Đại. They, the National Union Front of Vietnam, supported democracy as well as an alliance with France to fight communist Viet Minh front and gain sovereignty for Vietnam in peace. After failing to persuade the Viet Minh to surrender in May 1947, the French High Commissioner in Indochina Émile Bollaert, appointed in March by the French left-wing cabinet supporting Vietnamese "independence", decided to implement the idea of the former right-wing High Commissioner d'Argenlieu to restore Bảo Đại to the throne. Bao Dai initially did not want to lean towards either side, however he finally decided to represent nationalists to enter into negotiations with the French on 18 September 1947. In December 1947, Bảo Đại officially signed the first of the Ha Long Bay Accords with France. Despite ostensibly committing France to Vietnamese independence and unity, it was considered minimally binding and transferred no actual authority to Vietnam. Bao Dai did not sign as emperor but as citizen Vĩnh Thụy. The agreement was promptly criticized by National Union members, including Diệm. In a possible attempt to escape the resulting political tension, Bảo Đại travelled to Europe and commenced on a four-month pleasure tour which earned him the sobriquet "night club emperor". Under Bao Dai's approval, Cochinchina leader Nguyễn Văn Xuân established a provisional government representing Vietnam on May 23, 1948. After persistent efforts by the French, Bảo Đại was persuaded to return from Europe to continue to talk. He later signed as a supervisor another Ha Long Bay Preliminary Agreement between Xuân and Bollaert on 5 June 1948. Under the witness of representatives of three regions of Vietnam, the treaty stipulated that Vietnam was free to seek unification. However, this contained similarly weak promises for Vietnamese independence and had as little success as the first agreement. Bảo Đại once again travelled to Europe whilst warfare in Vietnam continued to escalate. The United States also supported the nationalists as an alternative political solution, especially on January 17, 1949, when the United States publicly supported Bảo Đại.

After months of negotiations with the French for Vietnamese unification and independence, he finally signed the Élysée Accords (an official treaty) with the French President Vincent Auriol on 8 March 1949, which took effect on 14 June and led to the establishment of the unified and "independent" State of Vietnam within the French Union with Bảo Đại being the Chief of State (國長, Quốc trưởng); the French also oversaw the creation of the Domain of the Crown where he was still officially considered to be the Emperor, this territory existed until his Prime Minister Diệm dissloved it in March 1955. The Cochinchina question was settled after the procedures under this agreement. Tonkin and Annam protectorates were reunited. The treaty was ratified by the French National Assembly on January 29, 1950, and signed by the French President on February 2.

Nominally, the French army in Vietnam was the French Union army to protect Vietnam, an "independent" allied member of the French Union. However, the country was still only partially autonomous in reality and the handover of power was gradual through further negotiations, with France initially and partly retaining effective control of national sovereignty. Bảo Đại himself stated in 1950: "What they call a Bảo Đại solution turned out to be just a French solution... the situation in Indochina is getting worse every day".

As Diệm and other hardcore nationalists were disappointed in the lack of autonomy and refused high government posts, Bảo Đại mainly filled his government with wealthy figures strongly connected to France. He then spent his own time in the resort towns of Da Lat, Nha Trang, and Buôn Ma Thuột, largely avoiding the process of governing. All this contributed to his reputation as a French puppet and a rise in popular support for the Việt Minh, whose armed insurgency against the French-backed regime was developing into a full-fledged civil war. Nonetheless, in 1950 he attended a series of conferences in Pau, France where he pressed the French for further independence. The French granted some minor concessions to the Vietnamese, which caused a mixed reaction on both sides.

In addition to the increasing unpopularity of the Bảo Đại government, the communist victory in China in 1949 also led to a further revival of the fortunes of the Việt Minh. When Communist China and the Soviet Union recognized the communist DRV government in January 1950, the United States reacted by extending diplomatic recognition to pro-French Bảo Đại's government in February. The new nation of him was gradually coming of age with the help of France and the US. The French war and Vietnamese independence increasingly fell into the orbit of the Cold War. American recognition and later 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. Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai in 1953 responded to the communist program of land redistribution and rent reduction with a decree declaring that rents for land should not exceed 15 percent of the crop. The decree was unenforceable and rendered null by a failing neo-colonial government and, in any case, contained loopholes that could have been exploited by landlords. The war between the French neo-colonial forces and the Việt Minh with the Chinese help started to go badly for the French, culminating in a major victory for the Việt Minh at Điện Biên Phủ. This led to the negotiating of a peace deal between the French and the Việt Minh on 21 July 1954, known as the Geneva Accords, which partitioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel. The north side was given to the communist DRV, with the State of Vietnam keeping the south. The French army withdrew to South Vietnam, but the communists secretly kept cadres there. Before the Geneva Accords, the State of Vietnam gained complete independence within the French Union on June 4. Bao Dai's delegation attended the negotiations but was unable to prevent the partition. Bảo Đại remained "Head of State" of South Vietnam, but moved to Paris and appointed Ngô Đình Diệm as his prime minister. South Vietnam was not yet fully independent in reality, but the United States supported Diệm, a man with an anti-colonial past, and gradually replaced French influence in South Vietnam to create an anti-communist independent bulwark in Southeast Asia. Diệm opposed the division of the country and later declared non-compliance with the Geneva Accords in July 1955 because his government had not signed them and because of doubts about the North's ability to guarantee free elections.

Second removal from power

Main article: 1955 State of Vietnam referendum

Bao Dai deposed as Chief of State in Vietnam's national assembly, Saigon, 1955

At first, Ngô Đình Diệm exercised no influence over South Vietnam: the Việt Minh still had de facto control of somewhere between sixty and ninety percent of the countryside (by French estimates), whilst the rest was dominated by the various religious sects. Meanwhile, the new capital of Saigon was under the total control of criminal group Bình Xuyên. According to Colonel Lansdale, it had paid Bảo Đại a "staggering sum" for control of local prostitution and gambling and of Saigon's police force. The military force remained in the hands of General Nguyen Van Hinh, a French national and anti-Diem. Diem's rise also led to conflict with Bảo Đại and the French.

Regardless, Diem was determined to eliminate his political opponents. His forces embarked on a campaign against the Bình Xuyên, with fighting breaking out in the streets on 29 March 1955. In an attempt to protect his clients, Bảo Đại ordered Diệm to travel to France, but he was disobeyed and Diệm eventually succeeded in pushing his opponents out of the city. Using a divide and conquer strategy, Diệm then employed a mixture of force and bribery to sway the remaining religious sects to his side. The Binh Xuyen's defeat by the government enhanced Diem's prestige at home and strengthened US support for him.

Now with a broad range of support and Bao Dai was the only obstacle, a new Popular Revolutionary Committee (formed by Diệm's brother Ngô Đình Nhu) was able to call 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, whose supporters had no way to refute them since campaigning for Bảo Đại was forbidden. On Bao Dai's side, on October 18, 1955, he issued a statement dismissing Ngo Dinh Diem from his position as Prime Minister and removing all power from his office in Paris to protest against a police state and personal dictatorship headed by Ngo Dinh Diem. However, this order was not implemented domestically.

The referendum was criticized as being fraudulent. The official results showed a tally of 98.9% in favor of a republic, with the number of votes for a republic exceeding the total number of registered voters by 155,025 in Saigon, while the total number of votes exceeded the total number of registered voters by 449,084, and the number of votes for a republic exceeded the total number of registered voters by 386,067.

Bảo Đại was removed from power, with Diệm declaring himself president of the new Republic of Vietnam on 26 October 1955, the First Republic. Exactly one year later, South Vietnam promulgated a constitution and established a parliament to confirm its republic.

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. The relationship with Bloch-Carcenac resulted in the birth of his last child, Patrick-Édouard Bloch-Carcenac, who still lives in Alsace in France.

After moving to France, Bao Dai no longer controlled the economic system to benefit himself as before, many businesses in Vietnam were confiscated by Ngo Dinh Diem. Being watched by the tax authorities, with no more funding from the French government, he had to gradually sell his assets. Around the 1960s, Bao Dai's huge fortune gradually dwindled. Many magnificent castles, expensive airplanes, luxury cars,... had to be transferred to other people's names and mortgaged to pay off huge debts. Bao Dai only received a small subsidy from President Giscard's government of 8,000 francs/month.

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 (de facto under communism), 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 in South Vietnam, and he criticized President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's anti-communist Second Republic 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. However, after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, the communists eventually took power in South Vietnam by force in April 1975, leading to the formal reunification of the country under a communist state the following year.

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 Caodaist religious ceremonies, in the California and Texas Vietnamese American communities, people having a tough stance against the Vietnamese communist government. In this visit, he became an honorary citizen of the city of Westminster in the United States. Bao Dai also took this opportunity to survey the opinions of Vietnamese communities living in the United States about solutions for national reconciliation.

In 1988, Bảo Đại was baptised in France as Roman Catholic.

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.

Bảo Đại's burial place in the Cimetière de Passy, Paris

Bảo Đại died at Val-de-Grâce, a military hospital in Paris, on 31 July 1997. He was interred in the Cimetière de Passy.

Perception of Bảo Đại

In Vietnam

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) considered him to be a traitor. After he was once again helped by France as the Head of State of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh said in an interview with Chinese media: "Vĩnh Thụy brought the French invading army back to Vietnam and killed more compatriots. Vĩnh Thụy is a true traitor. The French colonists conspired to restore slavery in Vietnam. Vĩnh Thụy is the confidant of the colonists. Although Vietnamese law is very tolerant to those who have lost their way, they will severely punish the traitorous orphans. The Vietnamese people are determined to defeat all colonial conspiracies and fight for true independence and reunification."

On one hand, Bảo Đại remains a highly discussed figure. The CPV labels him a traitor, but does not treat him as harshly as subsequent leaders of the later South Vietnam; his role continues to be studied, ranging from a somewhat sympathetic figure to the Việt Minh to a moderate figure who tried to avoid war, given Bảo Đại himself agreed to abdicate in 1945 to give power for the Việt Minh.

Vietnamese diaspora

Anti-communist Overseas Vietnamese, who are ardently anti-governement and pro-democracy, didn't consider Bảo Đại positively, partly due to his weak-willed reputation and inability to confront with the communist threat, as well as his reclusive life and his perceived cowardice. His role is also studied by the diaspora, although recent studies had questioned the perception due to perceived bias by both the Vietnamese diaspora and the CPV.

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).
• On 13 May 2017, a watch owned by Bảo Đại, a unique Rolex ref. 6062 triple calendar moonphase watch made for him while he was working in Geneva, became one of the most expensive watches ever sold, selling for a then record price of US$5,060,427 at a Phillips auction in Geneva.

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 Chữ Hán. 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.

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  Bảo Đại Thông Bảo 10 văn
• 
  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 "We do not wish a foreign army to spill the blood of our people."
• He explained his abdication in 1945 saying "We 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 Ho Chi Minh's popularity and gain the support of the U.S. by creating an associated state 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).

Reign symbols

Symbols created and / or used during the reign of Bảo Đại
Symbol	Image	Description
Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty
8 imperial seals created for Emperor Bảo Đại.		See Seals of the Nguyễn dynasty.
Personal standard of emperors Khải Định and Bảo Đại		Flag ratio: 2:3.
Personal coat of arms of Bảo Đại.		A sword per fess charged with the ramparts of the Purple Forbidden City in Huế, inscribed with two Traditional Chinese (Hán) characters (保大) and supported by a single dragon. Influences:
Bảo Đại Thông Bảo (保大通寶)		The last cash coins issued by a government in both Vietnam and the world.
Bảo Đại Bảo Giám (保大寳鑑)		A series of silver coins bearing his reign era.
Chief of State of Vietnam
Seal as the chief of state of Vietnam.		A seal with the inscriptions "Quốc-gia Việt-Nam", "Đức Bảo Đại Quốc-trưởng" written in Latin script and "保大國長" in seal script.
Personal standard		Flag ratio: 2:3. Influences:

Further reading

• Anh, Nguyên Thê. (1985). "The Vietnamese Monarchy under French Colonial Rule 1884–1945". Modern Asian Studies. 19 (1): 147–162. doi:10.1017/S0026749X0001458X. JSTOR 312324.
• Chapuis, Oscar (2000). The Last Emperors of Vietnam: From Tu Duc to Bao Dai. Greenwood.
• Chapman, Jessica M. (2006). "Staging democracy: South Vietnam's 1955 referendum to depose Bao Dai" (PDF). Diplomatic History. 30 (4): 671–703. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.2006.00573.x.
• Hammer, Ellen J. (1950). "The Bao Dai Experiment". Pacific Affairs. 23 (1): 46–58. doi:10.2307/2753754. JSTOR 2753754.
• Hess, Gary R. (1978). "The first American commitment in Indochina: The acceptance of the 'Bao Dai solution', 1950". Diplomatic History. 2 (4): 331–350. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7709.1978.tb00441.x. JSTOR 24910123.
• Lockhart, Bruce McFarland (1993). The End of the Vietnamese Monarchy. Lac Viet Series. Vol. 15. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for International and Area Studies. ISBN 9780938692508.
• Szalontai, Balázs (2018). "The 'Sole Legal Government of Vietnam': The Bao Dai Factor and Soviet Attitudes toward Vietnam, 1947–1950". Journal of Cold War Studies. 20 (3): 3–56. doi:10.1162/jcws_a_00813. JSTOR 26924494.

Other languages

• 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.

External links

• Newspaper clippings about Bảo Đại in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Photos of Bảo Đại's summer palaces

• Web citation
• Images