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

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Early life

He was the eldest son of his Emperor

Thiệu Trị Thiệu Trị (, vi-hantu, 紹治, 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 the eldest son of Em ...

, 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, 嗣德, lit. "inheritance of virtues", 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; he ruled ...

). According to ''

Việt Nam sử lược ( vi-hantu, 越南史略, french: Précis d'Histoire du Việt-Nam, lit. "Outline History of Vietnam"), was the first history text published in the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese alphabet. It was compiled by Vietnamese historian Trần Trọng Ki ...

'', historian

Trần Trọng Kim Trần Trọng Kim (Chữ Nôm: ; 1883 – December 2, 1953), courtesy name Lệ Thần, was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a state established with the support of Impe ...

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.''

'', Quyển 2, Cận kim thời đại, Chương 8 Four high ministers, Trương Đăng Quế, Võ Văn Giải,

Nguyễn Tri Phương Nguyễn Tri Phương ( vi-hantu, 阮知方, 1800 – 1873), born Nguyễn Văn Chương, was a Nguyễn dynasty mandarin and military commander. He commanded armies against French conquest of Vietnam at the Siege of Tourane, the Siege of Sai ...

and Lâm Duy Hiệp, were appointed as regents. Why Thiệu Trị changed the primogeniture 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 an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

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

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

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 largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

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

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, 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 Thành Thái (, vi-hantu, 成泰; 14 March 1879 – 20 March 1954) born Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Lân (阮福寶嶙), was the son of Emperor Dục Đức and Empress Dowager Từ Minh. He reigned as emperor for 18 years, from 1889 to 1907. Biog ...

posthumously.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong Bao, Nguyen Phuc 1854 deaths People from Thừa Thiên-Huế province 1825 births Nguyen dynasty princes Suicides by hanging in Vietnam