What would the Emperor think about how the legacy of his family has been handled?
	Vietnamese Charlatan Group Falls Apart
It has become clear that the myriad of groups focused around the imposter Nguyen-Phuc Buu Chanh, who in the past had bestowed the titles of Sir, Duke, Prince and Prince-Regent of the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty on himself has for all intents and purposes collapsed. None of the numerous websites endorsed by Buu Chanh (each claiming to be the only legitimate one) have not been updated in years. Of course, the spam is still all around the web, most dating back to when his so-called chancellor carpet-bombed every website, forum, message board, encyclopedia and guest book imaginable with a highly misleading biography of Buu Chanh. Probably the most amusing is found on a dog breeders site at http://www.dogluvers.com/dog_breeds/Nguyen_Phuc_Buu_Chanh where Buu Chanh is listed as his own breed of dog!
His entry on the encyclopedia Wikipedia has changed frequently, and a look at the records show he or his minion have been subject to disciplinary action for posting false, misleading or plagiarized material. For a time he was listed as having retired from his role of leading the monarchist movement and Nguyen Dynasty to be replaced by Shawn Lee Thach only to be listed a short time later as being back in charge again. Requests for authentification by the poster have, as yet, been unanswered.
According to one source, Crown Prince Bao Long, oldest son and heir to the late Emperor Bao Dai (whom Buu Chanh once railed against as being unworthy of his title) had now assumed control of the Order of the Dragon of Annam, an old French colonial Annamese order which Buu Chanh had attempted to restore and use as a means to win further support from gong hunters. Reportedly, the Crown Prince dismissed Buu Chanh from any association with it and has said the order will work solely for charity. Chivalric orders expert Guy Stair Sainty has said that the new Grand Master of the order is Prince Bao Vang and the Chancellor is a heretofore unknown named Prince Qui Loc. However, as Christopher Buyers of the Royal Ark Website has pointed out, Bao Vang is the familial title of Yves Claude Vinh San, from the family of Emperor Duy Tan, who is a jazz musician on La Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. He does not speak Vietnamese and I can say for myself that the descendants of Emperor Duy Tan I have contacted were outraged at the actions of Buu Chanh and did not seem the least bit interested in pushing for a monarchist restoration in their ancestral homeland.
As could have been expected, it seems that with the ability to give out titles and orders taken away from him, all of the many supposedly prestigious American followers of Buu Chanh have quickly abandoned his sinking ship. Carl Lindgren, who once threatened me with a lawsuit and accused Guy Stair Sainty of being a racist and thwarting his efforts to be included in more prestigious and respected European orders, has now disappeared and the website he operated for Buu Chanh is now offline. Likewise, his partner-in-gong hunting David Pritchard has vanished and no longer mentions Vietnam or Buu Chanh in any of his writings or web postings. I also, not long ago, received a conciliatory email from the self-titled Count Timothy Carmain de Perillos who once went on a forum calling me all sorts of ugly named and claiming my parents were cult members, in which he admitted that he had participated at least somewhat in a fraud and feeding the delusions of grandeur of Buu Chanh who has no more right to princely status than I do.
I cannot confirm absolutely what Crown Prince Bao Long has or has not done, but I can only hope that what reports I have heard are true and that the actual Vietnamese Imperial Family members will come forward to denounce and distance themselves from Buu Chanh and all of his erratic lies and self promotion. His antics have only hurt the cause of monarchy in Vietnam and further weakened the already threadbare chances of a restoration in that country. The Nguyen Dynasty, even long before its overthrow, had suffered from a considerable public image problem and Buu Chanh and his American followers have only made things worse. My advice to any loyal Vietnamese is to stick with the actual sons and daughters of the late Emperors, be wary of these distant cousins, and to focus on cultivating a respect for their own native traditions and customs and the spiritual role of the monarchy rather than on colonial era titles and baubles of the European style.