Hàm Nghi

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Emperor Hàm Nghi

Emperor Hàm Nghi (Hán tự: 咸宜帝); August 3, 1871 - 1943, at the "Purple Forbidden City" of Huế) was the eighth Emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty.

On July 4, 1885, the Mandarins' Revolt broke out under the leadership of Nguyễn Văn Tường and Tôn Thất Thuyết. They stormed the palace and Emperor Hàm Nghi and three empresses were taken away.

They were taken to the hills and jungles around Laos along with these men, to wage a guerrilla war against the French occupation forces. The French replaced him with his brother, Emperor Đồng Khánh, who was enthroned as the Son of Heaven.

In 1888, after a series of setbacks, Emperor Hàm Nghi was betrayed by his bodyguard and turned over to the French colonial regime.

On August 13, 1888, he was exiled to Algeria. He married a French Algerian woman named Marcelle on November 4, 1904. They had three children, Prince Minh-Duc, Princess Nhu May and Princess Nhu Lý.

Emperor Hàm Nghi & Marcelle

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has sent a delegation to France to seek permission from Princess Nhu Lý (Countess De La Besse, died 2005, in her 97th year) to move her father's remains to the former Imperial capital of Huế. Her family has presently refused.