ROYAL LOVE STORIES Royal love stories abound in novels, in family registers, and in people's minds. If one wants to know about them, there are still old people in their eighties who still remember, having passed their whole lives in Hue. For example, there's Mr.Hung, who had a handsome and talented nephew, a farmer who was loved by princess, the tenth grand- daughter of King Thanh-Thai. This aristocratic lady refuse to live in the palace, insisting on being with her husband in the countryside. One can also meet Princess Luong Linh, King's Thai daughter, still living in Hue; and Mrs Dien Tam, former Queen, who is now 87 years old - she still healthy, and is a devotee of Buddha in Hong Tam Pagoda. As her father and her uncles were serving in Court. She was invited to the palace when she was fourteen, and became the third wife of King Khai-Dinh at seventeen. To be the King's concubine, she had to possess the four virtues of nobility, beauty, talent and charm. That lady had her own true love, but she dare not disobey the king. As she remembers him, the King liked to wear gold rings on all his fingers. He was very handsome but unhealthy. At the age of seventeen and half, she became a window and entered the monastery. Some of the maids were allowed to return to their villages to marry the men they loved, though this was very rare. Only those gave birth were called 'concubines'. King Minh-Mang, who was very good at architecture and litera- ture, had thirty wives, many concubines and beautiful maids. He had 142 sons and daughters. On the other hand, King Tu-Duc - the poet king - was childless. He adopted his two nephews, intending to pass on his throne to one of them and retire; but his death in 1883 prevented him from carrying out his wishes.
