Who they were
Educated in France, Bao Dai reigned from 1926 under the French protectorate, returning to Vietnam in 1932. His brief attempts at reform were frustrated by colonial control.
What they did
On August 30, 1945 he abdicated to the August Revolution, handing over the dynastic seal and sword; he is famously quoted as declaring he would rather be a citizen of a free country than king of an enslaved one. He briefly served the new republic as “supreme adviser”. In 1949 the French installed him as Head of State of the associated State of Vietnam; he spent much of the era abroad, and in 1955 he was deposed by prime minister Ngo Dinh Diem’s referendum, which is widely regarded as rigged.
Legacy
His abdication was the quiet end of Vietnam’s thousand-year monarchy. He lived in exile in France until his death in Paris in 1997; a life spanning empire, colony and war, he has been assessed variously — by some as a playboy figurehead, by others as a man trapped by his times.