Crown Prince Bao Long of Vietnam (born January 4 1936) is the head of the Nguyen Dynasty, the now deposed Emperors of Vietnam. He is a pretender to the Vietnamese throne.

Biography

Bao Long was born at Kien-Trung Palace , Hue on January 4, 1936, to parents Emperor Bao Dai and Empress Nam Phuong of Vietnam. On March 7, 1939, he was invested and proclaimed Crown Prince of Vietnam, the official heir to the throne in an ancient Confucian ceremony at Can-Chanh Palace , Hue, Vietnam.

In 1947, Empress Nam Phuong left Vietnam with the Crown Prince and his siblings. They lived at the Chateau Thorenz outside of Cannes, France. Crown Prince Bal Long grew up as a devout Christian of the Roman Catholic Church, and he received his education at the Roches School in Normandy. He then went to Paris and studied law and political science to prepare him to serve in the capacity on state affairs.

In 1953, Crown Prince Bao Long was invited to attend the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in London to represent the Vietnamese Imperial Family.

Crown Prince Bao Long served in the French Foreign Legion in the Algerian War of Independence and he highly distinguished himself, earning the Croix de Guerre (Cross of Military Valor) with three stars for his courage in battle. His other decorations are the Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, the decoration of the Golden Gong 2nd Class, the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia, the Order of the Million Elephants and White Parasol of Laos and a commemorative medal for attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

After 10 years of service in the French Foreign Legion, he returned to France where he worked in a bank. He never married and never had any children, so has no heir apparent.

In 1997, when the Emperor Bao Dai passed away, Bao Long inherited the position of head of the Nguyen Dynasty. He has remained out of politics and lives quietly in Paris, though political organizations such as the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League wish to restore the Nguyen Dynasty to power under a Constitutional Monarchy to Vietnam, such as in Cambodia and Thailand.

External links

• Vietnam’s Imperial Crown Prince