The last maid of Nguyen Dynasty

One of the last imperial maids of the Nguyen dynasty now lives in a small house in Hue.

VietNamNet Bridge – One of the last imperial maids of the Nguyen dynasty now lives in a small house in Hue.

Mrs. Tran Thi Vui, the last maid of the Nguyen Dynasty.

Tran Thi Vui, over 80, recalled her time in the palace. Her mother, Ton Nu Thi Bien, was also a palace maid. At the age of 16, Vui became maid to Tu Cung, the mother of Bao Dai, the last king of Vietnam.

“Only people in the king’s family were recruited as palace maids. My mother is the niece of the fifth generation of Prince Dien Quoc Cong, so I was recruited. That was the most beautiful time in my life!” Vui commented.

Palace maids must obey a rule to not disclose anything about the life of the King. In the past, palace maids were considered as people with high social standing, but they actually lost their freedom of movement.

Though Vui was the maid to King Bao Dai’s mother when she was very young, she still has a lot of memories. She recalled: “I had to fan and massage Mrs. Tu Cung’s feet. There were 4-5 people serving Mrs. Tu Cung like me.”

According to Vui, King Bao Dai was a modern man. He didn’t have many wives like the previous king, just Queen Nam Phuong. “I don’t know whether or not he had other women, but in the palace, he had only Queen Nam Phuong,” Vui confirmed.

As King Bao Dai had only one wife, the inner palace was peaceful.

“King Bao Dai was very gentle and easy. Each time he played chess, his sideburns hung over his face, covering his eyes, but he didn’t blame the maids. He liked snacking, so there were always some kinds of cakes that he liked in the kitchen, such as banh beo, banh nam and banh bot loc (Hue’s special cakes)”.

In 1945, King Bao Dai abdicated his throne and Vui and her mother left the palace to return to normal life. She then got married and gradually forgot her time in the palace.

“Last year a group of Japanese tourists came here to see me. They asked me a lot about the Nguyen court, about King Bao Dai, his habits and the work of palace maids,” she commented.

Hue’s “Royal Palace Night,” which relives life in the Nguyen palace through student actors is familiar to tourists, but the last living maid of the Nguyen dynasty, is still unknown.

Researcher Ho Tan Phan wondered: “I don’t know why the Hue tourism agency doesn’t think that these living witnesses are ‘specialties’ of Hue. Mrs. Vui only needs to wear an old-style ao dai, sit in a chair and tell her stories about the palace. That’s enough to attract visitors because they are always curious about what the king ate and all other related matters.”

Phan explained that there were two kinds of palace maids, both of which worked for the king and his family. Virgin girls were recruited as the king’s concubines and other maids were brought in to work only as servants. He lamented that there are few written documents about these women.

PV

Tags: Bao Dai, In The Palace, King Bao, King Bao Dai, Nguyen Dynasty, Of The Nguyen, Of The Nguyen Dynasty, Palace Maids, The King, The Last, The Nguyen, The Nguyen Dynasty, The Palace, Physics games

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