Notes Concerning the Succession to the Headship
of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam and the
Order of Precedence of Imperial Princes
While European ruling families typically followed a pattern of succession determined by primogeniture (Latin indicating "first-born") which dictated inheritance by birth order and precedence by proximity of relationship to the reigning (or last-reigning) monarch, the Nguyen Dynasty followed Asian custom by which heirs not necessarily the eldest-born son of a ruler, but typically a family member were appointed, and precedence within family ranks was determined by one's generation, rather than proximity to the monarch, which favored the elders.
The second Nguyen emperor, Minh Mang (1791-1840), fathered 87 sons and 64 daughters by his 40 wives. To bring a sense of order and organization to his large family, the emperor composed a poem of twenty words each word in the poem to be given as a name identifying the generation into which Nguyen princes were born for the subsequent twenty generations. Minh Mang's "Imperial Branch Poem" can be viewed in the original Chinese script and in modern Vietnamese (see below). Thus the naming structure of Nguyen princes followed this pattern: surname (Nguyen-Phuc), followed by generational name (Mien, Huong, Ung, Buu, Vinh, etc.), followed again by a given name. A separate poem, considerably shorter, was devised for daughters
The last reigning Nguyen emperor, Bao Dai (1913-1997) was born Prince Nguyen-Phuc Vinh Thuy, identifying him as a great-great-great-grandson of the Emperor Minh Mang. He took the name Bao Dai , or "Keeper of Greatness", as the name of his reign upon his accession to the throne in 1926. The late emperor's son, Crown Prince Bao Long, bears the generational name "Bao" as it appears next after "Vinh" in the Imperial Branch Poem composed by Minh Mang, as does his brother, Prince Nguyen-Phuc Bao Thang, and his half-brother, Prince Nguyen-Phuc Bao An. Were any of the late emperor's sons to have sons of their own, they would be given the generational name "Qui".
Crown Prince Bao Long was born to Emperor Bao Dai and Empress Nam Phuong in 1936, and was formally invested as Imperial Heir in traditional Confucian rites on 7 March 1939. With the abdication of sovereign powers to the Viet Minh by the Emperor Bao Dai on 25 August 1945, there was no longer a throne to which the Crown Prince might one day succeed. Removed from the country by his mother to France in 1947 and raised as a Catholic, Bao Long did not return to the country of his birth in 1949 when his father was installed by the French occupying forces as "Duc Quoc Truong" or Head of State (as opposed to "Hoang De" or Emperor as he had been before his abdication) of the Nation of Vietnam (rather than the Empire of Vietnam, or the Kingdom of Annam as the French had called the mid-section of the country before 1945). In fact, Bao Long never saw his homeland again after 1947. Constitutionally, Bao Long had no official position during his father's term as Head of State from 1949 to 1955, although it was hoped that this situation could be rectified over time with full restoration of the monarchy. This goal was never achieved. Emperor Bao Dai was deposed as Vietnam's Head of State by means of a plebiscite rigged by the Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diem, with the full support of the government of the United States. Bao Dai retired to France where he joined his wife and family.
After nearly four decades in exile, and owing to both his own advancing age and the stated intentions of his sons to lead quiet and private lives, Emperor Bao Dai approved the formation of the Imperial Family Overseas Council for the purpose of maintaining the dynastic functions and prerogatives of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty in exile after his death. To oversee the Council, Bao Dai chose three Nguyen dynasts of high rank Prince Nguyen-Phuc Buu Phuc (Chairman), Prince Nguyen-Phuc Buu Chanh (General Secretary), and Ton That Ngoc (Deputy General Secretary). The significance of the Emperor's choice of representatives to head the Council must be underscored in order to be fully understood by those unfamiliar with Asian dynastic customs. Princes Buu Phuc and Buu Chanh are among the few surviving great-great-grandsons of Emperor Minh Mang, and are of the same generational rank as Bao Dai's father, the Emperor Khai Dinh, born Prince Nguyen-Phuc Buu Dao. By western reckoning the familial relationship between these two princes and the late emperor is merely that of distant cousinship. However, by Vietnamese reckoning, Princes Buu Phuc and Buu Chanh were considered uncles by the late Emperor, who referred to them as such even though both men were younger than he. In addition, Ton That Ngoc was selected to represent the ancient race of Nguyen Lords ruling in Annam before the ascent of the first Nguyen emperor, Gia Long, in 1802. These dynasts bear the traditional surname "Ton That" before their given names in order to differentiate them from the Imperial Nguyen line. Thus it was hardly a random or insignificant event that the late Emperor Bao Dai chose three very senior-ranking elder dynasts to take over the affairs of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty after his death. The Council structure was adopted on 16 April 1993, and formalized in the presence of the Emperor Bao Dai in Paris on 22 December 1993.
Four days earlier, on 16 December 1993, in the House of Commons of the British Parliament, the British Committee for Free Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma, under the direction of General Secretary Mme. Josette de Roland-Peel, had organized the joint agreement between the four ruling or formerly-ruling royal houses, which laid the foundation for the formation of the Southeast Asia Imperial and Royal League under the presidency of Prince Nguyen-Phuc Buu Chanh. Upon his return to the United States after his visit to the Emperor, Prince Buu Chanh established the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League on 1 January 1994. This organization has become the sole political organization representing the monarchist position and aspirations of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty in the world today.
The Emperor Bao Dai passed away on 31 July 1997 in Paris. In his first, and subsequently his last public statement upon succeeding as heir to the throne of Vietnam, Crown Prince Bao Long recalled memories of his father, but gave no indication of any intention to play a future role in dynastic or political affairs beyond the simple statement of his succession. Having often made his intentions to live a peaceful, quiet and contemplative life known to family members, his determination is underscored by the fact that he has acted accordingly in the years since his father's death. The political and religious advisors, and retainers formerly serving Emperor Bao Dai have, since his death, faithfully served Prince Buu Chanh and the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League.
On 30 October 2002, Prince Buu Chanh, along with leaders from the Buddhist and Cao Dai religious communities in exile, reconstituted the Imperial Order of the Dragon of Annam, founded as an Order of Merit in 1886 by Emperor Dong Khan and subsequently conferred jointly by the French colonial authorities from 1896-1940. Although replaced by the National Order of Vietnam by Head of State Bao Dai in 1950, it was determined by Prince Buu Chanh and his advisors that the Order of the Dragon was better suited to serve as a reward for meritorious services to the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty than subsequent "national" orders founded in the post-Imperial period. In sacred ceremonies held simultaneously in Buddhist and Cao Dai temples throughout the United States, the order was proclaimed with Prince Buu Chanh as a private Political Order.
Currently, the Prince enjoys the friendship and support of King Norodom Sihanouk and Crown Prince Norodom Ranarridh of Cambodia, King Kigeli V of Rwanda, Prince Ermias Selassie, President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, and the Head of the Royal House of Portugal, HRH Dom Duarte, Duke of Bragança
