In the last century, the two last empresses of the East, Wan Rong and Ruan Youlan, both of whom had amazed the world, were both ungeneous empresses and had a relatively bleak old age.
Among them, Vietnam's last empress Nguyen Hu Lan, who once turned the world's first beauty in the East, once went overseas in her later years and died alone, and when she died, she was even more desolate.
Nguyen Woo Lan
A great beauty
In 1914, Nguyen Hu Lan was born in Egun City, Qian Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam at that time was still "protected" by the French, but in the beautiful water town of Egun, it still maintained tranquility in the chaotic world of the outside world, and nurtured Nguyen HuLan, a beautiful woman who later became famous.
Speaking of Nguyen Youlan, we have to mention his father Nguyen Friendship, due to the geographical location of the two countries in history there have been many economic and cultural exchanges, during which there are also many Chinese to settle in Vietnam, Nguyen Youlan's father Nguyen Youlan is one of them, and is a very successful local Chinese.
When Nguyen Youyou was a child, the Nguyen family's family was not well-off, but Nguyen You's hard work on study and his excellent results brought him a lot of favor, and Nguyen Youyi was able to be recommended to the then famous billionaire Le Dak in southern Vietnam as a secretary after graduation.
After coming to Li Dafeng's side, Ruan Youyi was quickly appreciated by his boss Li Dafeng, and finally married Li Ping, the daughter of Li Dafeng, and soon after marriage, the two gave birth to their daughter Ruan Youlan.
Ruan Youlan was born in a well-educated environment, and by the age of 12, Ruan Youlan was sent by her parents to Paris, France, and attended a prestigious Catholic school there, at which time Nguyen Youlan had become a French citizen.
Ruan Youlan, who is born beautiful, has become more beautiful and moving as she grows older. Soon it became the focus of the upper class in Paris, attracting the pursuit and admiration of many prominent sons and brothers. When Nguyen Hue Lan set foot on the land of his homeland again, he accidentally met Bao Da (Nguyen Phuc Hun), the king of Annam who had just returned from France.
After going through obstacles, become the queen
King Bao Da fell in love with this beautiful woman with outstanding appearance and good temperament at first sight, and began to put down his figure as a king to constantly show kindness to Ruan Youlan and frequently meet.
In the spring of 1934, Bao Da, the king of Annam, officially announced his marriage contract with Nguyen Hu Lan to the people of the whole country. In its announcement, Bao Da, who had won the beauty, called Ruan Youlan the first beauty of the East who did not lack Western nobility and elegance. At that time, Bao Da claimed that heaven had arranged this encounter, making Nguyen Hu Lan the queen of Annam.
Since the French colonists occupied Vietnam in 1884, the original emperor has become the current king, so when Nguyen Hulan married into the Vietnamese royal family, the title of Bao Da was King, and Nguyen Youlan at this time could not be called empress, but could only be regarded as queen.
In the summer palace of Dalat, the king personally wore the ring on Nguyen Hue Lan's hand, but after a smooth engagement, the wedding of the two encountered resistance from all sides. We know that Nguyen Hulan was once a Catholic school, and the Nguyen family is also a Catholic family, she is herself a Catholic, and Vietnam is a Buddhist country.
As a result, their marriage caused an uproar in vietnamese folklore, and the Vietnamese people who believed in Buddhism at the time even scoffed at it, and they could not accept a pagan as their queen. The Catholic side that learned the news also found it difficult to accept that Nguyen Hue Lam had married a pagan.
Nguyen Hu lan immediately said that he would not change his faith, but he was very concerned about his marriage, and finally after consultation, the Roman pope allowed the bride to remain Catholic, on the condition that the daughters born to Nguyen Hu Lan would be Catholic.
King Baoda also encountered resistance in this matter, and his mother did not approve of the marriage. King Bao Da, who was full of pride in the sweetness of love, acted very tough on this matter, and even took out a posture of not marrying Ruan Youlan.
On March 20, 1934, after much resistance, King Bao Da and Nguyen Hue Lan finally got their wish and held a wedding ceremony in Hue. After the ceremony, King Bao Da performed a state ceremony, issuing a king's order to formally grant the title of Queen Nguyen Hu Lan An Nam and giving the queen the title of "Nam Phuong".
After marriage, the two had 5 children, but according to the agreement with the Pope of Rome, most of the children of Bao Da and the South were educated in France.
Parting ways, lonely overseas
In the summer of 1939, Queen Nanfang officially visited Europe for the first time as Queen Annan, and her Western elegance and oriental beauty overwhelmed the entire Western world.
In 1940, as World War II was fought fiercely, the defeated France officially surrendered to Germany, and japanese troops took advantage of the situation to occupy the area that had been colonized by France.
When the Japanese continued to recognize King Annam in order to buy hearts and minds in order to consolidate their rule in Vietnam, Bao Da continued to be king. It was not until early 1945 that Japan began to experience an inevitable decline in the frontal battlefield.
In order to comfort the occupied areas, at the behest of the Japanese, King Bao Da officially declared the independence of Annam from French rule and established the Vietnamese Empire (including Annam, Tokyo, and Jiaotong at that time), and Bao Da was also happy to be "promoted" from the king of Annam to the emperor of the Vietnamese Empire, and the queen of the south naturally became the queen of the south.
Only a few months after Bao Da became emperor, Japan was defeated and announced its unconditional surrender, and the Viet Cong that grew up on the anti-Japanese battlefield gradually controlled the situation in Vietnam, and the poor Bao Da Emperor was forced to abdicate after less than a year of "promotion".
At first, due to the domestic situation in Vietnam and the need to compete with the South, as well as the long-term influence of Emperor Bao Da among the Vietnamese people, the leaders of the Viet Cong chose to make him an adviser to the new Vietnamese government, and the Queen of the South was also highly valued in the new government, serving as a member of the Vietnam Reconstruction Committee and leading the work of the VietnamEse Red Cross Society.
Soon after, due to the continuing turmoil in Vietnam, Aunt Bao's family had to leave Vietnam and settle in Hong Kong.
Around 1949, Vietnam split into South Vietnam and North Vietnam, the Viet Cong seized power in North Vietnam, and Bao Da, with the support of the French, chose to continue to serve as the head of state of South Vietnam, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the Southern Empress.
At this time, the mother of Emperor Baoda, who was originally dissatisfied with Ruan Youlan, a Catholic, brought her 18-year-old niece to the palace, accompanied Bao Da, day and night, and asked the emperor to seal it. The Southern Empress, who had already had a disagreement with Baoda, resolutely left and returned to France, never to be seen again.
In 1963, when the 49-year-old Southern Empress died of a heart attack in France, the prosperity of the South finally withered in a distant foreign land, and the Baoda Emperor did not even appear at the funeral, and the death of the South was desolate.