Ngô Đình Luyện (1914 – 1990) was a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

diplomat. He was one of six sons born to affluent Roman Catholic parents and also had three sisters. His father,

Ngô Đình Khả Ngô Đình Khả (吳廷可, 1856–1923 but some sources state 1850–1925) was a high-ranking Catholic mandarin in the Court of the Emperor Thành Thái in Huế, Vietnam. He helped established the Quoc Hoc in Hue and was also a confidant ...

, was a

mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

during the French colonial era. Luyện's brothers included Provincial Governor Ngô Đình Khôi,

South Vietnamese South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

President Ngô Đình Diệm and Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục, the Roman Catholic archbishop of

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

. Khôi was killed by

Việt Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

insurgents in the 1940s, who reportedly buried him alive. Diệm appointed Luyện as ambassador to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Diệm and another brother,

Ngô Đình Nhu Ngô Đình Nhu (; 7 October 19102 November 1963; baptismal name Jacob) was a Vietnamese archivist and politician. He was the younger brother and chief political advisor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm. Although he held n ...

, were executed on 2 November 1963 during a military coup. Another brother, Ngô Đình Cẩn, was captured a few days later and eventually sentenced to death and executed. Luyện was able to escape assassination because he was in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at the time. Luyện and Thục were the only brothers to survive the political upheavals in Vietnam.Video Interview with Ngô Đình Luyện
WGBH Media Library & Archives, 31 January 1979

References

Ngo family Vietnamese Roman Catholics Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War Ambassadors of Vietnam to the United Kingdom 1914 births 1990 deaths Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Place of death missing {{Vietnam-diplomat-stub