Bảo Đại was born Prince Nguyễn Vĩnh Thụy in Huế, which was then the capital of Vietnam. His father was Emperor Khải Định. After being educated at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (better known as Sciences Po) in France, he became emperor in 1925 following his father's death, and took the name Bảo Đại (but is also known as Nguyễn Phúc Thiển or Vĩnh Thụy). He was subject to French control of his government— Vietnam was part of French Indochina. At various points in the 20th century, Bảo Đại was widely considered to be a puppet ruler under French colonial interests.

On 20 March 1934, at the imperial city of Huế, Bảo Đại married Jeanne Marie-Thérèse (Mariette) Nguyen Huu-Hao Thi Lan (1914-1963), who was renamed Hoang Hau Nam Phuong, or "the Southern Empress". Together, Nam Phuong and had 5 children: Crown Prince Bảo Long born on 4 January 1936, Phuong Mai born on 1 August 1937, Phuong Lien born on 3 November 1938, Phuong Dung born on 5 February 1942 and Bảo Thang born on 9 December 1943.

Bảo Đại had four other wives, three of whom he married during his marriage to Nam Phuong: Phu Anh, a cousin, whom he married circa 1935; Hoang, a Chinese woman, whom he married in 1946 (one daughter); Bui Mong Diep, whom he married in 1955 (two children); and Monique Baudot, a French citizen whom he married in 1972 and whom was styled Imperial Princess (later Empress) Monique Vĩnh Thụy and then renamed Thai Phuong Hoang-Hau.

In 1940 (during World War II), coinciding with their ally Germany's invasion of France, the Japanese invaded Indochina. While they did not eject the French administration, the Japanese directed policy from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France.

The Japanese promised not to interfere with the court at Huế but in 1945 threatened Bảo Đại into declaring Vietnam's independence from France as a member of Japan's "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". The Japanese had a Vietnamese pretender, Prince Cường Để, waiting to take power in case his 'elimination' was required. The Japanese surrendered to the Allies in August 1945, and the Communist Việt Minh under Hồ Chí Minh aimed to take power. Due to the Japanese associations, Hồ was able to persuade Bảo Đại to abdicate on 25 August 1945, handing power to the Việt Minh—an event that greatly enhanced Hồ's legitimacy in the eyes of the Vietnamese people. Bảo Đại was appointed "supreme advisor" in the new government in Hanoi, which asserted independence on 2 September.

As the country descended into violence—rival Vietnamese factions clashing with each other and with the French—Bảo Đại left the country after a year in the advisory role, living in Hong Kong and China. The French persuaded him to return in 1949 as Head of State (Quoc Truong), but not Emperor. He soon returned to France, however, and showed little interest in the affairs of his country when he was not being directly affected. But the war between the French colonial forces and the Việt Minh continued, ending in 1954 shortly after a major victory for the Việt Minh at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ.

The United States, nervous about Hồ Chí Minh's communism, became strongly opposed to the idea of a Vietnam run by Hồ after his government of the north, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, in 1950 gained recognition from the Soviet Union and China. In the south in the same year, the French formed a rival Vietnamese government under Bảo Đại in Saigon which was recognized by the United States, United Kingdom and the United Nations.

The 1954 peace deal between the French and the Việt Minh, known as the Geneva Accords, involved a Chinese-inspired, supposedly temporary partition of the country into North and South. Bảo Đại moved to Paris, France, but remained Head of State of South Vietnam, appointing the religious nationalist Ngô Đình Diệm as his Prime Minister.

However, in 1955, Diệm used a referendum to remove Bảo Đại and form a republic, taking control of the South himself, while managing to win American support. The referendum was widely regarded as fraudulent, showing an alleged 98 percent in favor of Diệm. Bảo Đại abdicated once again and remained in exile in Paris.



Life in Exile

In 1972, Bao Dai issued a public statement in France, and appealed to the Vietnamese people for national reconciliation, stating "The time has come to put an end to the fratricidal war and to recover at last peace and accord".

Bao Dai still held great influence among political figures in the Quảng Trị and Thừa Thiên-Huế Provinces and also in the city of Huế, the ancient capital of Vietnam. The Communist government of North Vietnam sent representatives to France hoping that Bảo Đại would become a member of a coalition government to reunite Vietnam, which would also attract his supporters in the regions where he had influence.

As a result of the meetings conducted, Bảo Đại publicly spoke out against the presence of American troops on the territory of South Vietnam, and he also criticized President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu's regime in South Vietnam. He called for all political factions to create a free, neutral, peace-loving government that would resolve the tense situation that had taken form in the country.

In 1982, 'Emperor' Bảo Đại and 'Imperial Princess' Monique Vĩnh Thụy along with other members of the Vietnamese Imperial Family visited the United States. His agenda was to oversee and bless Buddhist religious ceremonies, in the California and Texas Vietnamese-American communities.

While in the United States, Emperor Bảo Đại gauged opinion among the exiled Vietnamese-American community, hoping to find a route towards national reconciliation.

Bảo Đại died in a military hospital in Paris in 1997. He was interred in the Cimetière de Passy, Paris.

After his death, his eldest son Bảo Long inherited the position of head of the Nguyễn Dynasty.

                       

Courtesy of: http://www.answers.com/topic/bao-dai