Nam Phuong

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Nam Phương
Imperial Princess of Annam Empress of Vietnam
Image:NamPhuong.jpg
Nam Phương on her wedding day, 1934
Full name Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan
Titles Imperial Princess (1934-1945) Empress (1945-1963)
Born 14 December 1914
Birthplace Gò Công, Cochin-China
Died 16 December 1963
Place of death Chabrignac, Corrèze, France
Buried Chabrignac, Corrèze, France
Consort Bảo Đại, King of Annam, Emperor of Vietnam
Dynasty Nguyễn Dynasty
Father Pierre Nguyễn Hữu-Hào
Mother Marie Lê Thị Binh

Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan, later Imperial Princess Nam Phương and Empress Nam Phương (14 December 1914 - 16 December 1963), was the first and primary wife of Bảo Đại, the last king of Annam and last emperor of Vietnam, from 1934 until her death.

She also was the first empress consort (hoàng hậu) of the Nguyễn Dynasty. The family, which ruled from 1802 until 1945, previously had a tradition of granting the titles of empress or queen to reigning monarch's wives only after the deaths of their husbands. During their lifetimes, wives of Annamese rulers were held various titles which reflected their rank in the hierarchy of concubines, from First Imperial Concubine (nhat-giai phi, the highest grade) to Junior Concubine of the 9th rank (cuu-giai tai nhan, the lowest grade). Only the mother and grandmother of the reigning monarch held the title of empress, which was granted upon their son's or grandson's ascension to the throne.[4]

Contents

[edit] Background

Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan was born in Gò Công, a Mekong Delta town in what was then the French colony of Cochinchina, one of the three areas (the others being the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin) that composed the Union of French Indochina[1][2].

Her father, Pierre Nguyễn Hữu-Hào, described as a wealthy merchant,[3] had been born into a poor Catholic family of Chinese descent in Gò Công.[citation needed] Through an introduction from the Archbishop of Saigon, he became secretary to the billionaire Lê Phát Đạt, Duke of Long My, and eventually married his employer's daughter, Marie Lê Thị Binh, and inherited his title.[4][5]

A naturalized French citizen, Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan, who was known as Mariette, studied at the Convent des Oiseaux, a fashionable Catholic school located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, where she was sent at the age of 12.[5]

[edit] Marriage

On 9 March 1934, the public announcement of the engagement of Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan and Bảo Đại, King of Annam, was released. (In the 19th century, the occupying French forces had diminished the rank of the country's emperor to king, a situation that was not reversed until 1945.)[6] In it, Bảo Đại stated, "The future Queen, reared like us in France, combines in her person the graces of the West and the charms of the East. We who have had the occasion to meet her believe that she is worthy to be our companion and our equal. We are certain by her conduct and example that she fully merits the title of First Woman of the Empire."[7]

After a formal betrothal ceremony in the imperial summer palace in Dalat,[8] the king married Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan on March 20, 1934, in Hué. The ceremony was Buddhist, though the ruler's Catholic fiancée caused some controversy; the country's population was not entirely in favor of the bride's religious affiliation.[9] Others suspected that the marriage "smelled high of French chicanery."[10] The New York Times reported that "discontent was general" in the country, given that Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan had declined to renounce Catholicism and was appealing to Pope Pius XI for a dispensation.[11] Another article noted that there was much discussion over a report that the pope might allow the bride to "remain a Catholic if she gave the Church her girl children".[12] Further complicating the wedding plans was the apparent disapproval of the young monarch's mother, Doan Huy, and his late father's secondary wives, all of whom had other bridal candidates that Bao Dai apparently did not consider.[13]

At the state ceremony that marked the end of the four-day wedding festivities, Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan was given the title Imperial Princess and renamed Nam Phương, which means Southern Perfume, in acknowledgment of her place of birth.

At the time of her marriage, a song was written in her honor:[14] "In the firmament of the Son of Heaven a brilliant new star has risen!/Supple as the neck of the swan is the charm of her graceful form./Her black and sparkling eyes, in hours of ease, envelop and thrill that happy mortal allowed to see./O, Nguyễn Hữu-Hào! Beautiful are all thy ways."

[edit] Children

The emperor and empress had five children, most of whom were educated at the French boarding school their mother had attended, Convent des Oiseaux:[6]

[edit] Created empress

Empress Nam Phuong
Empress Nam Phuong

On 18 June 1945, Nam Phương was raised in rank from Her Majesty to Her Imperial Majesty. She also was granted the title of empress, her husband having assumed the title of emperor after proclaiming the country's independence from France, as he had been urged to do as a member of Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. At this time, Tonkin, Cochinchina, and Annam, which came under the control of Imperial Japan after World War II, were reunited to become the Empire of Vietnam, a puppet state. However, the new emperor was soon convinced to abdicate the throne by the revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh, head of the Việt Minh. The former emperor returned to Vietnam in 1949 at the invitation of the civilian government and was named head of state, but he went into exile again in 1954.

[edit] Influence on fashion

Nam Phương's first official visit to Europe, in the summer of 1939, launched a craze for what one reporter described as "trousers and embroidered tunics for evenings; pagoda silhouettes, [and] revers or sleeve forms."[16] To the surprise of fashion observers, when she met with Pope Pius XII during that trip, "the visitor from Indochina did not wear the traditional black, long-sleeved gown and veil. Instead, she appeared in a gold, dragon-embroidered tunic, red scarf, and gold hat. She wore silver trousers."[17]

[edit] Later life

Nam Phương served as a member of the Reconstruction Committee for Vietnam after the end of World War II and was the patron of the Vietnamese Red Cross.

In 1947, after the Communist takeover of the country, the empress and her children moved to Château Thorens, outside of Cannes, France, which had been in the family since its purchase by her maternal grandfather in the early 20th century.[18] She separated from her husband in 1955. Two years later, when the Vietnamese government announced its confiscation of the imperial family's personal property, the bill specifically excluded any real estate owned by the empress prior to 1949.[19] These properties included her father's villa at Dalat, which is now Lam Dong Museum.[7][8]

[edit] Death

Empress Nam Phương died on September 16, 1963 from a heart attack, at Domaine de La Perche, her home near the small rural village of Chabrignac, Corrèze, France.[20] She was buried in the local cemetery.[21]

[edit] Portrayal on film

The empress was portrayed by the actor Yen Chi in the 2004 Vietnamese miniseries "Ngon Nen Hoang Cung" ("The Royal Candlelight").[9]

[edit] Titles and styles

  • Marie-Thérèse Nguyễn Hữu Thị Lan (1914-1934)
  • Her Majesty Nam Phương, Imperial Princess of Annam (1934-1945)
  • Her Imperial Majesty Nam Phương, Empress of Vietnam (1945-1963)

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Annam Ruler to Wed Commoner March 20; Daughter of Wealthy Cochin-China Family Will Be Bride of Europeanized Emperor", The New York Times, 9 March 1934, page 21
  2. ^ Commoner is Wed to Annam's Ruler", The New York Times, 20 March 1934
  3. ^ "Annam Ruler Proclaims His Bride-to-Be Is Worthy", The New York Times, 10 March 1934
  4. ^ R.B. Smith, "The Vietnamese Elite of French Cochinchina, 1943", Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1972), pp. 459-482.
  5. ^ Letter from the empress's nephew Pascal Lê Phát Đạt to the writer Georges Nguyễn Cao Đức, regarding the family's ancestry
  6. ^ Vietnamese Imperial Family Genealogy,
  7. ^ "Annam Ruler Proclaims His Bride-to-Be Is Worthy", The New York Times, 10 March 1934
  8. ^ "Will Renounce Faith to Wed an Emperor", The New York Times, 18 March 1934
  9. ^ "Commoner is Wed to Annam's Ruler", The New York Times, 21 March 1934
  10. ^ "Wedding and Thanks", Time, 2 April 1934[1]
  11. ^ "Annamite Girl Asks Pope for Right to Wed Emperor", The New York Times, 12 March 2004
  12. ^ "Wedding and Thanks", Time, 2 April 1934[2]
  13. ^ "Annam Greets Emperor's Catholic Bride", The New York Times, 20 March 1934
  14. ^ "Wedding and Thanks", Time, 2 April 1934[3]
  15. ^ The Crown Prince reportedly was baptized in the Catholic faith four months after his birth, without his father's permission. "Heir to Annam's Throne Reported to be Baptized", The New York Times, 31 May 1936
  16. ^ "By Wireless from Paris", The New York Times, 23 July 1939
  17. ^ "Footnotes on Headliners", The New York Times, 23 July 1939
  18. ^ Letter from the empress's nephew Pascal Lê Phát Đạt to the writer Georges Nguyễn Cao Đức, regarding the family's ancestry
  19. ^ "Bao Dai Loses Property", The New York Times, 18 December 1957
  20. ^ "Nam Phuong, Wife of Ex-Annam Ruler", The New York Times, 17 September 1963
  21. ^ Official Chabrignac Website

[edit] External links

Preceded by
None		 First Ladies of South Vietnam Succeeded by
Madame Ngô Ðình Nhu