A Pox on Their House

The Vietnamese imperial family says a local masseur who claims lineage is lying.

by Helen i-lin Hwang

Apparently, members of the royal house of Vietnam got a bit miffed after reading a recent City Paper story that examined a local Vietnamese immigrant's claims that he was related to Emperor Bao Dai, the last ruling monarch of the Southeast Asian country.

Last week, two staff members of His Imperial Highness Prince Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh contacted CP to dispute claims of royal lineage made by local masseur Truong Duong Ton, who is serving time after being convicted of attempting to sexually assault a client at the Center City spa Reset on Camac [News, "Royal Flushed," Helen i-lin Hwang, March 11, 2004].

"The prince wishes me to let you know that this young man is no relation to the late Emperor Bao Dai or to the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty," says spokesman Tim de Carmain-Perillos. "As for the photos taken of the young man in Imperial garments, any tourist visiting the former Imperial capital of Hue can do this for a small fee."

Though there is no longer an emperor of Vietnam, the prince, who resides near Chicago, is the royal family's officially recognized representative. He's also the president of the Vietnamese Constitutional Monarchist League, an organization that is attempting to "liberate the Vietnamese people" by forming a transitional government with a constitutional monarchy in Vietnam, according to an e-mail from C.E. Magnus Lindgren, the chancellor to the prince regent.

Prince Buu Chanh became regent of the Imperial Nguyen Dynasty in late February. He is the first regent, who is supposed to rule during the absence of a monarch, since Emperor Bao Dai's death. The emperor died in 1997 in France, where he was living in exile after being deposed in 1955. The emperor's two sons live as private citizens in France and wish to take no part in royal activities, says de Carmain-Perillos.

A legitimate member of the imperial family, of which there are more than 10,000, would have the surname Nguyen Phuc and would have to be a male, because the imperial blood can only be passed down with the male seed.

"He could be related to the royal family, but so could you or I. That wouldn't make us a member of the imperial family," explained de Carmain-Perillos.

As for Ton, he's currently imprisoned at Laurel Highlands Correctional Facility in Somerset, where he awaits sentencing.