Pre colonial Indo China had many feudal Emperors. The French and Japanese left them in place. In a way so did Ho Chi Minh but not Diem in the south. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The stamp shows the Pagoda of learning in Hanoi. Part of the fallacy that Vietnam had one government. The other fallacy was that the Emperor was not the Emperor but a Head of State in the South and Supreme Advisor in the North. Makes a learned man want to move to Monaco and buy a fancy watch.
During the French phase the area of central Vietnam around Hue was called Annamite. The Nguyen Dynasty ruled from the Purple Forbidden City there. The last of these Emperors was Bao Dai (Keeper of Greatness), who trained in France and chose as his Empress a well off Catholic commoner Vietnamese girl as his Empress Nam Phuong, (Direction of South). Bao Dai was a big believer in marriage and married 2 further Vietnamese, a North Vietnamese from his time in the North, a Hong Kong Chinese girl from an exile there and 2 French girls from his long exile there. Monique, the last is still alive and an Imperial Princess. There were 11 children so plenty of heirs if Vietnam gets the itch.
Toward the end of the Japanese period the area was declared the Vietnamese Empire under Bao Dai. The large armed independence force under Ho Chi Minh convinced the Emperor to abdicate in return for being named Supreme Advisor to the North Vietnam government. Bao Dai did it claiming he would rather be a citizen of a free people that an Emperor of an enslaved one. A year in Hanoi however convinced him that his advice was viewed as something less than supreme and so he moved first to Hong Kong and then to Paris. The French then saw the Emperor as a way to add legitimacy to the South Government and named him a non Royal Head of State. Again his advise was not followed and his French suggested Prime Minister Diem was openly trying to subvert him. Back to France and Monaco. He separated from Empress Nam Phuong who also moved to France but a Chateau her family maintained there.
As Vietnam sunk into war Bao Dai lived the good life in France/Switzerland/Monaco. He had a special Rolex watch made for him that sold in 2017 for over 5 million dollars. His yacht was one of the largest in Monaco. In 1972 he tried one last time to have an influence on his country. He condemned foreign soldiers fighting on both sides and suggested that both sides put down their weapons and form a unity government that he would be willing to chair. The North sent emissaries to discuss the proposal but not the South Vietnamese. After the war he did not return to Vietnam where he has been cast as tool of the French.
Well my drink is empty and maybe I will check out some fancy watches. Keeping greatness can’t be left to just the Emperors. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2020.