Bao Dai, Vietnam’s last Emperor, ascended to the throne in 1932. During World War II he cooperated with the Japanese. In 1945 he abdicated in favor of the Vietminh government and went to exile. In 1949, the French reinstated him as the Head of State, trying to invest their colonial regime of certain legitimacy.

In 1955 he was ousted in a rigged referendum by Ngo Dinh Diem, whom Bao Dai had appointed prime minister a year earlier. He lived exiled in France until his death in 1997.

Text of the Abdication of Bao Dai.
From the Vietnam War Internet Project
http://www.vwip.org/articles/b/BaoDai_Abdication_8-25-45.htm

Biography of Bao Dai
From ExploreVietnam.com:
http://www.vietpeople.com/people/leaders/bao_dai.html

Bao Dai's Obituary, published by the NY Times.
From Vincent Ferraro's Website at Mount Holyoke College
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/baodai.htm