Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh (1780–1801), also known as Prince Cảnh, was the eldest son of the Vietnamese Prince Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, the future Emperor Gia Long. At the age of seven, he famously visited France with the French Catholic Father Pigneau de Béhaine to sign an alliance between France and Vietnam. Although Prince Cảnh was the legitimate heir to the throne, he died before his father, and none of his descendants ascended the throne after his half-brother Nguyễn Phúc Đảm was chosen by Gia Long.
Life Born April 6, 1780, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh was the second son of Nguyễn Phúc Ánh and his first wife, Empress Tống Thị Lan (his older brother died soon after birth).
Embassy to France In 1785, at the age of five, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh accompanied the French Catholic Father Pigneau de Béhaine to France in order to sign a treaty of alliance between France and Vietnam, the 1788 Treaty of Versailles.A History of Vietnam by Oscar Chapuis, p.175Dragon Ascending by Henry Kamm p.86 Prince Canh was also accompanied by two mandarins, a cousin, who became a Catholic known as Prince Pascal, soldiers and servants.Mantienne, p.84, p.200 The party reached Pondicherry in February 1785. Unable to obtain help, they left Pondicherry for France in July 1786.Mantienne, p.92 which they reached in February 1787.Mantienne, p.93
The party met with King Louis XVI on May 5 or 6, 1787. The Treaty of Versailles (1787) was signed on 28 November 1787.Mantienne, p.97 Prince Cảnh created a sensation at the court of Louis XVI, leading the famous hairdresser Léonard to create a hairstyle in his honour "au prince de Cochinchine".Viet Nam by Nhung Tuyet Tran, Anthony Reid, p.293 His portrait was made in France by Maupérin, and is now on display at the Séminaire des Missions Étrangères in Paris. Prince Canh dazzled the Court and even played with the son of Louis XVI, Louis-Joseph, Dauphin of France."He dazzled the Louis XVI court at Versailles with Nguyen Canh, ... dressed in red and gold brocade, to play with the Dauphin, the heir apparent." in The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, and Our Fantasies by Sheridan Prasso, p.40"The Dauphin, about his age, played with him." French Policy and Developments in Indochina - Page 27 by Thomas Edson Ennis
Prince Canh became highly favourable to Christianity."He had not converted Gia Long to Christianity, but had succeeded in making Prince Canh a Catholic zealot, universally condemned for having told his mother to throw feces on Buddhist images" A History of Vietnam by Oscar Chapuis, p.179 He strongly desired to be baptized,Mantienne, p.200 but Pigneau de Behaine refrained doing so in order to avoid a negative reaction at the Vietnamese court.Mantienne, p.122
Return to Vietnam
The party would leave France in December 1787 on board the Dryade,Mantienne, p.109-110 again staying in Pondicherry from May 1788 to July 1789.Mantienne, p.110 After his return from France, he refused to kneel in front of the altar of his ancestors, and painted crosses on Buddhist statues.A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van, p.15 He would regularly attend Catholic mass, but was not formally baptized although he wished to.A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van, p.15-16
In 1793, Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh became "Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace" ().A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van From 1794 he participated to all the military expeditions, and his father Nguyễn Ánh insisted that he be accompanied every time by Father Pigneau de Behaine.Mantienne, p.135 He was besieged by the Tây Sơn with Pigneau de Behaine in the citadel of Duyen Khanh in 1794.
After Pigneau de Behaine died at the Siege of Quy Nhon in 1799, Prince Cảnh made a funerary oration to his former master:
Prince Canh seems to have been baptized secretly towards the end of his life.A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van, p.16 According to Vietnamese annals:
He died in 1801 of smallpox.Viêt Nam Exposé By Gisèle Luce Bousquet, Pierre Brocheux, p.204 Missionaries claimed however that he was poisoned."Prince Canh is said to have died from the measles at the age of twenty-one. However, French missionaries reported that he had been poisoned." Colonialism by Philip Wolny, p.45 Cảnh was given the posthumous name Anh Duệ Hoàng thái tử (英睿皇太子 lit. "The Crown Prince who is outstanding and forethoughtful") by Gia Long. He was buried in Bình Dương, Gia Định (in modern Bình Dương Province).Đại Nam chính biên liệt truyện (Sơ tập, Quyển 2)
As Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh was the presumptive heir to Gia Long, Canh's eldest son Mỹ Đường was next in line for the succession. Gia Long however changed the primogeniture rule of succession to include "testamental measures" (gia thien ha), and ultimately changed his successor to his fourth son, who became emperor Minh Mạng.
Descendants
In 1824, My Duong, the eldest son of Prince Canh, was apparently accused of incest with his mother (Prince Canh's widow) by mandarin Lê Văn Duyệt, with the result that he was banished from the royal court, while his mother died in prison. My Duong was only rehabilitated in 1848 during the reign of Tự Đức, one year before his death.A Vietnamese Royal Exile in Japan by My-Van Tran, Tran My-Van My Duong p.22
The 1833-1835 Le Van Khoi revolt attempted to reestablish Prince Canh's line to the throne. This choice was designed to obtain the support of Catholic missionaries and Vietnamese Catholics, who had been supporting with Lê Văn Duyệt the line of Prince Canh.McLeod, p.30
My Duong's eldest son was Le Trung, who received the title of Marquis Ứng Hòa Hầu in 1826. Le Trung's eldest son was Anh Nhu (also known as Tang Nhu), who was considered as a candidate to the throne under French rule, following the establishment of the protectorate on Annam in 1884, and once again after the death of Đồng Khánh in 1889.
Anh Nhu, grand-grandson of Prince Canh, was the father of Cường Để, the eldest son of three, who became a well-known independentist and collaborator with the Japanese during World War II. Cường Để, according to the old rule of primogeniture was the heir of the Nguyễn dynasty.
See also Empress Thừa Thiên France-Vietnam relations
Notes
References Mantienne, Frédéric 1999 Monseigneur Pigneau de Béhaine Eglises d'Asie, Série Histoire, McLeod, Mark W. The Vietnamese response to French Intervention, 1862-1874 Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990
External links A Prince, A Missionary and Three Revolutions