Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Bảo ( vi-hantu, 阮福洪保, 19 April 1825 – January 1854) was a prince of the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

Early life

He was the eldest son of the Emperor

Thiệu Trị Thiệu Trị (, vi-hantu, wikt:紹, 紹wikt:治, 治, lit. "inheritance of prosperity"; 6 June 1807 – 4 November 1847), personal name Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông or Nguyễn Phúc Tuyền, was the third emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. He was th ...

, and Đinh Thị Hạnh. In 1843 he was granted the title An Phong Công (安豐公, "Duke of An Phong"). Prince Nguyễn Phúc Miên Bửu was appointed as the teacher of Hồng Bảo and his younger brother Hồng Nhậm (later Emperor

Tự Đức Tự Đức (, vi-hantu, :wikt:嗣, 嗣:wikt:德, 德, , 22 September 1829 – 19 July 1883) (personal name: Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, also Nguyễn Phúc Thì) was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam, and the country's la ...

). According to '' Việt Nam sử lược'', historian Trần Trọng Kim described Hồng Bảo as "an ignorant man and disliked studying". Thiệu Trị did not like him.

Conflict with Tự Đức

Thiệu Trị died in 1847, and Hồng Nhậm became the new emperor.'' Việt Nam sử lược'', Quyển 2, Cận kim thời đại, Chương 8 Four high ministers, Trương Đăng Quế, Võ Văn Giải, Nguyễn Tri Phương and Lâm Duy Hiệp, were appointed as regents. Why Thiệu Trị changed the

primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn Legitimacy (family law), legitimate child to inheritance, inherit all or most of their parent's estate (law), estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some childre ...

rule of succession is unknown; Western missionaries claimed that Trương Đăng Quế conducted a plot to depose Hồng Bảo, and crowned Hồng Nhậm as the new emperor. Rumors held that Hồng Nhậm was the illegitimate child of Trương Đăng Quế. Hồng Bảo was deeply resentful; he always regarded himself as the

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of a person with a better claim to the position in question. This is in contrast to an heir app ...

of the former emperor, and hoped to seize the throne. Hồng Bảo tried to seek support from

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

missionaries; he promised that if he ascended the throne, he would convert to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and make Vietnam a Catholic country. In 1851, Hồng Bảo tried to escape to

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, but was arrested. He asked for forgiveness, and was pardoned by Tự Đức. In 1854, he plotted a rebellion against Tự Đức. He was arrested and forced to commit suicide by hanging. He was buried simply without a funeral.Thư đăng trong ''Annales Propagation Foi tập 28'', 1855.

Legacy

Hồng Bảo's four sons, Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Đạo (阮福膺導), Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Tự (阮福膺寺), Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Chuyên (阮福膺傳) and Nguyễn Phúc Ưng Tương (阮福膺將), were banished from the royal court, and renamed Đinh Đạo (丁導), Đinh Tự (丁寺), Đinh Chuyên (丁傳) and Đinh Tương (丁將) respectively, then exiled to Khánh Hòa. In 1866, Đinh Đạo launched a rebellion against Tự Đức together with Đoàn Hữu Trưng (段有徵), Đoàn Hữu Ái (段有愛), Đoàn Tư Trực (段司直), Trương Trọng Hòa (張仲和) and Phạm Lương (范梁). The rebellion was quickly put down. As a result, Hồng Bảo's four sons were put to death together with their mother Trần Thị Thụy (陳氏瑞). In 1898, Hồng Bảo was rehabilitated by Thành Thái posthumously.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen Phuc, Hong Bao 1854 deaths 1825 births Nguyen dynasty princes Suicides by hanging in Vietnam