Madame Nhu

Trần Lệ Xuân (22 August 1924 – 24 April 2011), popularly known as Madame Nhu, was the de facto First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu who was the brother and chief adviser to President Ngô Đình Diệm. As Diệm was a lifelong bachelor, and because she and her family lived in Independence Palace, she was considered to be the first lady.

Known for her incendiary comments attacking the Buddhists of South Vietnam and the American influence in the country, she had to live in exile in France after her husband Nhu and her brother Diệm were assassinated in 1963.

Early years

Trần Lệ Xuân was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Hanoi, French Indochina, then part of the French colonial empire. Her given name means "Spring's Tears" Her paternal grandfather was close to the French colonial administration, while her father, Trần Văn Chương, studied law in France, and practicing in Bac Lieu in the Mekong Delta before marrying into the ruling imperial dynasty. Her father also served as the first foreign secretary for Indochina under Japanese occupation. Her mother, Thân Thị Nam Trân, was a granddaughter of Emperor Đồng Khánh and a cousin of Emperor Bảo Đại.