During the reign of King Minh Mang, the concubines of the Nguyen Dynasty were all in favor of the queen, with the highest title being that of imperial concubine.
In 1836, King Minh Mang divided the concubines in the harem into 9 ranks called "cuu giai" (the word "giai" means beautiful), the highest rank was "nhat giai". Higher than "cuu giai" was the royal noble concubine, then the queen. But in reality, King Minh Mang had not yet appointed anyone as queen.
Some historical books say that this position was left vacant to wait for a virtuous person, but until the end of King Minh Mang's reign, no one was found.
Regarding the failure to find a queen, the book Quoc su di bien by Phan Thuc Truc recorded: "The first queen, whose name is Kieu, was the daughter of a military officer who had no children, the second queen, whose name is Hinh, was the daughter of Le Tong Chat. Once, the king was a bit nervous, the first queen and the second queen went to pray at Thien Mac pagoda (Thien Mu). The second queen said: "If you offend the heavens, where can you pray?" When the king recovered, the first queen told the king about that statement. The king was very angry! Therefore, the position of queen was left vacant and could not be decided."
From the time of King Minh Mang onwards, the Nguyen Dynasty's harem kept the position of queen vacant, only granting the highest title of royal noble concubine. (Illustration photo)
According to the book, King Minh Mang did not establish a queen because he could not find a suitable person, but did not make a rule not to establish a queen, nor did he have any decree passed down to future generations that she could not be established. There are also a few reasons why the king intended to establish a queen but did not have time. For example, in the Thieu Tri era, the king intended to establish the noble concubine Pham Thi Hang as queen but did not have time to establish her.
The book Dai Nam liet truyen recorded: "When the king was about to die, he entrusted all the following matters to the queen. He also told the officials: The noble concubine is my first wife, a virtuous and wise person, who has helped me manage the work in the forbidden palace for 7 years. Now I want to establish her as the queen in the palace, but it is a pity that I did not do it in time."
Later kings (Thieu Tri, Tu Duc, Duc Duc, Hiep Hoa, Kien Phuc, Ham Nghi, Dong Khanh, Thanh Thai, Duy Tan, Khai Dinh) also did not establish queens, because it was not certain that these concubines had higher virtues to be worthy of this position. It was not until the reign of King Bao Dai - the last king of the Nguyen Dynasty, that this rule was broken.
To marry Nguyen Huu Thi Lan, King Bao Dai had to accept all the requirements such as abandoning all concubines to live a monogamous life. After the wedding, Nguyen Huu Thi Lan was crowned Queen Nam Phuong. She was also the last queen in Vietnamese history.
Regarding this, the book Nguyen Dynasty and Historical Issues states: “Kings Minh Mang, Thieu Tri, Tu Duc and their successors did not proclaim queens based on any precedent, simply because they had not found a worthy person to put on the throne, or it was not yet time to do so. One of their descendants, King Bao Dai, still solemnly proclaimed Queen Nam Phuong without any need for any exception.”
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Source: https://vtcnews.vn/vi-sao-11-doi-vua-nguyen-khong-lap-ngoi-hoang-hau-ar920333.html
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