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Officially, full toleration of Christianity was reestablished in Viet Nam by the Emperor Dong Khanh. His offspring were to become very important to the Catholic Church in Viet Nam as time went by. Over the period of French domination Christianity flourished in Viet Nam to a greater extent than any other country in Southeast Asia. Churches were built, people were converted and many Catholic schools were established, particularly in the French colony of CochinChina, the extreme south of Viet Nam. However, the success was overshadowed by the exploitation of the country at the hands of the French and due to their connection with the missionaries, harsh feelings

would always endure to some degree. Successive rulers were always Buddhist, as the Emperor was "pontiff" of national religion in Viet Nam. Even the son of Emperor Dong Khanh, Emperor Khai Dinh, was a devout Buddhist. His son however, would change things for Vietnamese Catholics.
In 1925 Emperor Khai Dinh died and was succeeded by his son, who took the name Bao Dai. He was educated in France and did not return to Viet Nam to assume his duties until he had reached his majority. When the time came for the Emperor to take a wife, he found that none of the traditional ladies were equal to his level of education. He at last found a suitable candidate in the person of Marie-Therese Nguyen Huu Hao, the daughter of a south Vietnamese merchant. Besides the benefits of knowledge and beauty, she was a commoner, and a devout Roman Catholic.
The Emperor had firmly decided to abolish the court harem, and take only one wife. Therefore, his new bride was given a unique honor in Vietnamese history as she was given the name and title of Nam Phuong (perfume of the south) Empress of Viet Nam. Over the years she gave the Emperor two sons, Crown Prince Bao Long and Prince Bao Thang, and three daughters, fulfilling her duty to secure the imperial succession for the Nguyen Dynasty.

However, the reign of Emperor Bao Dai was not to be a peaceful or uneventful one, despite the great early promise for peaceful reform and modernization. In 1945, after the French were defeated by the Japanese, Emperor Bao Dai declared the complete independence of Viet Nam from France. However, the new nation was weak and the Communists had recieved support from the United States. When Japan surrendered, the Communists possessed the only military in all of Indochina and during the August Revolution, they took control of the country and forced the Emperor to abdicate the Golden Throne. Fearing for the safety of his family, Emperor Bao Dai sent his wife and children into exile in France, where Empress Nam Phuong saw to it that they recieved the best Catholic education.

The Empress and her children in France

There was some speculation that the Crown Prince Bao Long might be chosen to lead a seperate South Vietnam from Cochinchina, but the Empress, faithful to tradition, would not allow this since Bao Dai was the one and only Emperor, and no Vietnamese would ever agree to the partition of the country. Yet, the Catholic bloc, led by Tran Van Ly, were major supporters of the restoration of Emperor Bao Dai to lead the nationalist government in opposition to the Communist regime in the north. Over the years, Catholics had achieved high position in the imperial court, and now they were determined to resist the spread of atheistic communism in their own country. Yet, as we all know, ultimately it was the Communists who would take the country. Emperor Bao Dai was deposed in 1955 by an openly fraudulent referendum and exiled to France. Only a short time later, Empress Nam Phuong died.

History continued to be made however, when Emperor Bao Dai converted to Christianity and was baptised into the Catholic Church as "Jean-Robert". He continued to be the symbolic leader of the monarchist Vietnamese movement. Upon his death in 1997, leadership of the Nguyen Imperial House passed to his son, Crown Prince Bao Long, who became the de jure Emperor of Viet Nam. His Majesty Bao Dai was the first Vietnamese Emperor in history to convert to Christianity, and now, were it not for the tyrannical Communist government, there would be a Catholic reigning over Viet Nam today in the person of Crown Prince Bao Long.
Still living in France, Crown Prince Bao Long has been kept informed of the efforts of the Nguyen Dynasty leadership to restore the monarchy in Viet Nam, and although he was expressed his desire to stay out of politics he remains the symbolic head of the Imperial Family as the man who would be Emperor if the monarchy is restored.

"Emperor" Bao Long of Viet Nam