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Bao Dai

Bảo Đại
保大
Emperor of Vietnam
Baodai2.jpg
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 (1937)
Phương Liên (1938)
Phương Dung (1942)
Bảo Thắng (1943)
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
Era dates
Bảo Đại (1926–1945)
House Nguyễn dynasty
Father Khải Định
Mother Hoàng Thị Cúc
Religion Buddhism, Catholicism
Standard
Full name
Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy
Era dates
Bảo Đại (1926–1945)
Bảo Đại
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese Bảo Đại
Hán-Nôm
Birth name

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. 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 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."

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 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.


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