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Vietnamese last king’s concubine passes away in France
  • | VietNamNet | July 02, 2011 11:51 PM

Bui Mong Diep, one of the concubines of Bao Dai, the last king of Vietnam, passed away at Saint Antoine Hospital in France on June 26, after an unsuccessful surgery.

Diep, 87, was the second wife of Bao Dai and mother to three of his children: Princes Bao Son, Bao Hoang and Princess Phuong Thao.

In 1953, when the war was going on in Vietnam, King Bao Dai entrusted a pair of precious swords and treasures of the Nguyen Dynasty to Mong Diep, to bring to Queen Nam Phuong, Bao Dai’s first wife, then residing in Thorenc, France.

Diep later moved to Paris and lived there for the rest of her life.

Although she wished to be buried in Hue - Nguyen Dynasty’s royal capital, Mong Diep will be entombed at the Thiais Cemetery (Paris) next to her two sons.

According to a researcher of Hue history and the Nguyen dynasty, Nguyen Dac Xuan, who went to France several times to see Mong Diep, the concubine held many valuable documents and objects related to king Bao Dai. She planed to donate the documents to Vietnam but she could not do it.

Xuan said that Mong Diep lived alone in her last years in an apartment in District 12, Paris. She recently suffered a neck injury from a fall. The surgery at the Saint Antoine Hospital failed when doctors discovered her heart disease.

Mong Diep was entombed at the Thiais Cemetery next to her two sons on July 1.

In Vietnam, a requiem for her will be held in the central city of Hue on July 2.

The life of concubine Mong Diep through photos:

Mong Diep and King Bao Dai.

Mong Diep in Hanoi before getting married king Bao Dai. Photo by Vo An Ninh.

King Bao Dai’s mother presented royal costumes to Mong Diep and
entrusted her to take care of worship for the royal family.

Mong Diep at king Bao Dai’s villa in Da Lat.

Mong Diep (right) and king Bao Dai (middle) at a hunting trip in Buon Me
Thuot in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Mong Diep and King Bao Dai\'s mother in the central city of Hue.

Mong Diep and king Bao Dai in France.

Mong Diep at her living-room in District 12, Paris. The painting
above is king Bao Dai in his early day in throne.

Mong Diep in front of the altar for King Bao Dai, his mother and Mong Diep’s two sons.

 

 

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