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Considering that it was Duy Tan's father, the Emperor Thanh Thai who had succeeded Dong Khanh rather than him, it would be easy to believe that Khai Dinh harbored a grudge against Duy Tan, who the French had arrested prior to his enthronement. Yet, it was Khai Dinh's father-in-law, one of his most trusted officials, Ho Dac Trung, who handled the trial of Duy Tan and ensured that he was not executed as the French were first inclinded to.
Emperor Khai Dinh was certainly a loyal and patriotic Vietnamese who loved his country. However, it is true that he had friends among the French who he believed had the best interests of his country at heart as well. He was particularly close to the French Resident Superieur Pierre Pasquier. He believed that if he could restore stability and peaceful relations with France, they would relent in their oppression toward Vietnam and let them rule themselves.

Khai Dinh announced at his enthronement his desire to "restore" the monarchy and give back to his people a sense of national pride and unity. One effort toward this goal was his establishment of the "Celebration of National Restoration" (Hung Quoc Khanh Niem) to honor the reunification of Viet Nam by Emperor Gia Long, founder of the Nguyen Dynasty. In 1918 he was allowed to visit Tonkin, the northern third of his country, which the French rarely allowed emperors to do. He took this as a sign that France was starting to relent and realize that the Vietnamese were quite capable of self-government. In 1922, when he visited France as part of the

Colonial Exhibition he again spoke out for the need of Vietnamese autonomy and urged France to stop using force against a people willing to be their friends.
However, France was unwilling to grant any real concessions to the court at Hue or the constitutionalist parties which supported authority being given to the Emperor advised by elected councils. In fact, they failed to even live up to their own protectorate treaties. People became very discouraged and many chose to blame the Emperor for the actions of the French. It was totally misplaced anger.
A common propaganda rant was that the Nguyen Emperor lived in luxury while the Vietnamese people were taxed to death by the French. This criticism was prevalent especially after the tax increase of 1923. However, Khai Dinh adamantly opposed the increase and signed it only under extreme protest. In fact, far from being a puppet, many French officials complained that Khai Dinh was not cooperative enough with them, even accusing him of 'disloyalty'. It had not taken long for the Emperor to become just as disgusted with the situation as the rest of his people were. His friend Pasquier noted that Khai Dinh, "cannot understand why, after the demonstrations

of loyalty which he has made to France, he is still being asked to destroy what he considers the foundations of the monarchy."
In fact, Khai Dinh was so disgusted with the situation that as early as 1920 he expressed his desire to abdicate since he was not allowed to rule as a traditional emperor. Naturally, the French refused to allow this. So, we can see that Khai Dinh, while having a genuine wish to be friendly with France, certainly had no more desire than any Vietnamese to see them rule his country. As to the charges that he lived too lavishly, it is sufficient to say that the expenses of his court were only half as much as those of their smaller neighbor Cambodia. Having long suffered from Pott's Disease and tuberculosis, which caused him constant pain, Emperor Khai Dinh died on November 6, 1925. His reign had been peaceful and stable, yet the monarchy remained in a delicate position due to French short-sightedness. Khai Dinh's legacy remains one of the unsung victims of the Communist victory, who, despite their hatred of the emperor, willingly accept the money from armies of tourists who come to see his unique and beautiful tomb near Hue City. The tragedy...