From 1802, the country today known as Vietnam -- which had been known variously as Vietnam and Annam, depending on who controlled it -- had been a Chinese tributary state ruled by emperors.

That title had been diminished to king, however, by the French government, which had taken control of the region in the late 19th century and split it into three areas: the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin and the colony of Cochinchina.

The Nguyen Dynasty had been given nominal rule of Annam.

At the age of nine, Prince Nguyen Phúc Vĩnh Thụy, the son of King Khai Định of Annam and his second wife, Tu Cung, who was renamed Doan Huy upon her 1913 marriage, had been sent to France to be educated at the Lycée Condorcet and, later, the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

In 1926, at age 13, he becomes king following his father's death and takes the name Bảo Đại.

He does not ascend to the throne due to his age and returns to France to continue his studies.

He is subject to control by the French of his government, Annam at this time being part of the Union of French Indochina.

Throughout the 20th century, Bảo Đại will be widely perceived to be a puppet ruler for French colonial interests.