Descendants launch book about King Ham Nghi

The book "Ham Nghi - Emperor in exile, artist in Algiers" was compiled by Amandine Dabat - the king's fifth generation descendant.

The book has 71 pages of fine art works, 12 pages of sculptures, 68 pages of documentary photos and letters, translated from the original French. Ham Nghi - Empereur en exil, artiste à Alger published by Sorbonne Publishing House in 2019. To compile the book, Dr. Amandine Dabat relied on the Ham Nghi collection kept by the king's descendants, including 2,500 documents, mainly letters received by the king and drafts of letters written by him during his exile. The second source is the Alger government's documents containing administrative documents and political projects of the French government related to the king.

Mr. Hoang Viet Trung, Director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Center, commented that the book launch event has important significance in the field of cultural diplomacy, bringing impact to the public and researchers of culture, history and art.

After the discussion, the descendants of King Ham Nghi presented to the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum a pair of royal chopsticks made of walrus ivory, which were given by Queen Mother Tu Du to Mrs. Phan Thi Hoa to use during King Ham Nghi's meals (Can Vuong period 1885-1889); a pair of porcelain pots - an item of the king's family.

Art historian Amandine Dabat is the great-granddaughter of Princess Nhu Ly, daughter of King Ham Nghi. She holds a PhD in Art History from Sorbonne University and a master's degree in Vietnamese Studies from Paris 7-Diderot University. In 2015, she successfully defended her doctoral thesis at the French National Institute of Art History with the topic Ham Nghi - Emperor in exile, artist in Algiers .

In January 2023, Dr. Amandine Dabat returned to Vietnam to talk about the king's life in exile in Algeria until the end of his life.

In the near future, she will have three book introductions at King Ham Nghi Memorial Temple in Tan So Citadel - Quang Tri (November 7), Hanoi Museum of Fine Arts (November 12) and the Faculty of History, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi (November 13).

King Ham Nghi's real name was Nguyen Phuc Ung Lich, the fifth son of Kien Thai Vuong Nguyen Phuc Hong Cai. Since childhood, he lived in poverty and rusticity with his mother, unlike his two older brothers in the palace, King Dong Khanh and King Kien Phuc.

In 1884, he was enthroned at the age of 13 by the anti-French ministers Nguyen Van Tuong and Ton That Thuyet. After the fall of the capital Hue in 1885, King Ham Nghi was taken by Ton That Thuyet to the mountains of Tan So. There, the king issued the Can Vuong edict, calling on scholars and farmers to rise up against the French to gain independence.

The French captured King Ham Nghi and on November 25, 1888 took him by ship to Lang Co. On the afternoon of January 13, 1889, the king arrived in the capital of Algeria, Algiers, and died there in 1944 due to stomach cancer.

Source