Editing Bảo Đại (section)

==Life in exile==

In 1957, during his visit to [[Alsace]] region, he met Christiane Bloch-Carcenac with whom he had an affair for several years. The relationship with Bloch-Carcenac resulted in the birth of his last child, Patrick-Édouard Bloch-Carcenac, who still lives in Alsace in France.<ref>oral communication (Patrick-Edward Bloch-Carcenac) and sections of the "Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" (D.N.A), n°. 264 of 10 November 1992 and from 7 August 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.maguytran-pinterville.com/vietnam/renaissance-de-hue/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320190704/https://www.maguytran-pinterville.com/vietnam/renaissance-de-hue/|archive-date=20 March 2015|title=RENAISSANCE DE HUE – Site de maguy tran – pinterville|language=fr}}</ref>{{when|date=June 2024}}

In 1972, Bảo Đại issued a public statement from exile, appealing to the Vietnamese people for national [[wiktionary:reconciliation|reconciliation]], stating, "The time has come to put an end to the [[Fratricide|fratricidal]] [[Vietnam War|war]] and to recover at last peace and accord".<ref name=NYT /> At times, Bảo Đại maintained residence in southern France, and in particular, in [[Monaco]], where he sailed often on his private yacht, one of the largest in Monte Carlo harbor. He still reportedly held great influence among local political figures in the [[Quảng Trị province|Quảng Trị]] and [[Thừa Thiên Huế province|Thừa Thiên]] provinces of [[Huế]]. The Communist government of [[North Vietnam]] sent representatives to France hoping that Bảo Đại would become a member of a coalition government which might reunite Vietnam under communism, in the hope of attracting his supporters in the regions wherein he still held influence. {{Citation needed|date=January 2012}}

As a result of these meetings, Bảo Đại publicly spoke out against the [[United States in the Vietnam War|presence of American troops]] in [[South Vietnam]], and he criticized President [[Nguyễn Văn Thiệu]]'s regime in South Vietnam. He called for all political factions to create a free, [[Neutral country|neutral]], peace-loving government which would resolve the tense situation that had taken form in the country.
 
In 1982, Bảo Đại, his wife Monique, and other members of the former imperial family of Vietnam visited the United States. His agenda was to oversee and bless Buddhist and [[Caodaism|Caodaist]] religious ceremonies, in the California and [[Texas]] [[Vietnamese Americans|Vietnamese American]] communities. In this visit, he became an honorary citizen of the city of [[Westminster, California|Westminster]] in the United States.<ref>https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su-trong-nuoc/cuu-hoang-bao-dai-va-nguoi-vo-cuoi-cung-107118.htm</ref>

In 1988, Bảo Đại was baptised in France as Roman Catholic.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pearson |first=Richard |date=1997-08-02 |title=BAO DAI, FORMER EMPEROR OF VIETNAM, DIES |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1997/08/02/bao-dai-former-emperor-of-vietnam-dies/1c39734a-4125-47ee-bc87-bbf501c4c31b/ |access-date=2024-01-08 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |quote=During his years in French exile, Bao Dai converted from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism and lost the greater part of his fortune.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=de Rochebouët |first=Béatrice |date=2022-10-28 |title=Enchères: sous le sceau du dernier empereur du Vietnam |trans-title=Auction: under the seal of the last emperor of Vietnam |url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/encheres/encheres-sous-le-sceau-du-dernier-empereur-du-vietnam-20221028 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230825034622/https://www.lefigaro.fr/culture/encheres/encheres-sous-le-sceau-du-dernier-empereur-du-vietnam-20221028 |archive-date=2023-08-25 |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=Le Figaro |language=fr |quote=Et, sur son initiative, reçut en 1988 le baptême catholique. |trans-quote=And, on his initiative, he received Catholic baptism in 1988.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BẢO ĐẠI (NGUYỄN PHÚC VĨNH THỤY, JEAN-ROBERT, 1913–1997) |url=https://indochine.uqam.ca/fr/le-dictionnaire/106-bo-i-nguyn-phuc-vnh-thy-jean-robert-19131997.html |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=indochine.uqam.ca |publisher=University of Quebec in Montreal |quote=The former emperor died there, after having remarried a French woman in 1972 and converted to Catholicism in 1988.}}</ref>

Throughout Bảo Đại's life in both Vietnam and in France, he remained unpopular among the Vietnamese populace as he was considered a political puppet for the French colonialist regime, for lacking any form of political power, and for his cooperation with the French and for his pro-French ideals. The former emperor clarified, however, that his reign was always a constant battle and a balance between preserving the monarchy and the integrity of the nation versus fealty to the French authorities. Ultimately, power devolved away from his person and into ideological camps and in the face of Diem's underestimated influences on factions within the empire.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ALp3JfHefG8C&pg=PA111 | title = A Special Relationship: The United States and Military Government in Thailand, 1947–1958 | author = D. Fineman | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780824818180 | page = 111 }}</ref>
[[File:Mo cuu hoang Bao Dai.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Bảo Đại's burial place in the [[Cimetière de Passy]], Paris]]
Bảo Đại died at [[Val-de-Grâce]], a military hospital in Paris, on 30 July 1997. He was interred in the [[Cimetière de Passy]].