Vietnam - Da Lat - 8/07
| Saigon | Nha Trang | White Sand Doc Let | Da Lat | Vung Tau | Back to Saigon |
|
|
Bao Dai's summer Residence palace
Bao-Dai (1913-1997)is the last reigning Vietnamese Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty, whose nickname was Vinh-Thuy, was born at Hue in 1913. He was the 13th emperor since Gia-Long (1802-1819), the founder of the Nguyen Dynasty, which ruled the Vietnamese people during the 19th and first half of the 20th century (1802-1945). Bao-Dai was the son of Khai-Dinh and succeeded to his father's throne in 1925. Bao-Dai means keeper of greatness.
 |
Bao Dai's throne. On March 24, 1934, he married a Catholic South Vietnamese girl named Jeanette Nguyen-Huu-Hao, the later Empress Nam-Phuong. She gave birth to two princes, Bao-Long, the crown prince and Bao-Thang, and three princesses: Phuong-Mai, Phuong-Lien, and Phuong-Dung. Empress Nam-Phuong died in France on September 19, 1963. On August 25, 1945, Bao-Dai abdicated when the communist Viet-Minh seized power. He then lived in exile in Hong Kong until 1949 when, with the support of the French, he returned as Chief of State. On October 23, 1955, more than a year after the French defeat at Dien-Bien-Phu (on May 7, 1954) Bao-Dai was over thrown by a referendum and his Prime Minister Ngo-Dinh-Diem declared South Vietnam a Republic on October 26, 1955. Diem became its first president. |
|
Bao Dai's drawing room, is basically a room where visitors may be entertained. In the States we probably call it the Living room. Bao Dai had four wives all together, three of whom he wed during his marriage to Empress Nam Phuong. Nam Phuong lived apart from her playboy husband after his 1955 exile and died of a heart attack at the age of 49 in Chabrignac, France. While in exile in Paris, he married in 1972 his 4th and last wife, Monique Baudot, a French citizen, who remained his companion until his death in 1997.
|
Inside the drawing room., Lan Huong and I, we are standing next to a photograph of a young Bao Dai. |
|
|
|
The princess' bedroom
|
|
|
The Empress' bedroom
|
The bathroom looks so outdated now but this was built when Vietnamese people did not even have plumbing in their houses. Back then this is very luxurious and probably very impressive. |
Bao Dai has many
mistresses and after Nam Phuong, his 1st wife, left him and went into exile in
France, he lived there with his lover. A portrait of her still hang on the
wall. |
This is only one of his many residences. All of his residences are built up on hill.
Bao Dai died in a military hospital in Paris in 1997 at the age of 84.
After his death, his eldest son, Bao Long, inherited the position of head of the Nguyen's Dynasty but without a country to reign.
Next...on the road again... to Vung Tau
