John and Jenny Fulton

Real International Princesses: Vietnamese Princess Y Lan

By Jenny Fulton

Introduction

My book, An International Princess Alphabet Primer, features princesses from countries and cultures around the world. Each character is named after a real person. These are their stories.

Because the alphabet book was written for young kids, the biographies I’m sharing are short, child-friendly, often rose-tinted summaries.

Vietnamese Princess Y Lan

Vietnamese Princess Y Lan is named for Queen Mother Y Lan, one of the most powerful women in Vietnamese history.

In some ways, Y Lan’s life reads like a Cinderella story. She was born in the small village of Tho Lou in the year 1044 B.C. Her parents named her Le Thi Yen Loan. They were normal villagers and for many years, Thi Yen led a completely normal life.

But one day, everything changed. In 1063, when Thi Yen was 19 years old, she went out to the field to pick berries. On the same day, King Ly Thanh Ton went to a nearby Buddhist temple to pray that he’d have a son who could be the next king. After he left, the king and his men rode through Thi Yen’s village. Everyone, except Thi Yen, ran to the road to see him. The procession stopped and the king took time to talk to the villagers. Then something else caught his attention.

In the field beyond the village, he saw a beautiful young woman leaning against an orchid tree. He immediately left everyone and went to meet her. The king was so impressed by Thi Yen’s beauty, gentleness, and intelligence that he fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. He built a palace just for her and gave her the name Y Lan, which means “leaning on the orchid.”

In 1066, Y Lan gave birth to the son King Ly Thanh Ton had prayed for. They named him Prince Ly Can Duc. Three years later, when Y Lan was 25 years old, the king left to fight off an invading army. Since the prince was too young to rule, the king put Y Lan in charge. In addition to war, the empire was faced with a bad famine. Y Lan worked with the royal advisors and other kingdom officials to give the villagers enough food. She helped them figure out how to irrigate the fields to grow more crops and how to protect them from floods. She also worked hard to give poor village girls, like she had been, a better life. The king and his army pushed back the invaders and returned to find everything running smoothly.

King Ly Thanh Ton died in 1072. Since the prince was still young, Y Lan once again ruled the empire as Queen Mother. With the king’s death, another outside kingdom tried to invade and take over their empire. However, Y Lan had the support of strong generals who led the army to defeat the enemy.

Queen Mother Y Lan died in 1117 when she was 73 years old. In her later years, she built hundreds of Buddhist temples and is therefore given credit for spreading Buddhism all throughout the country. She is remembered as a kind and wise leader who was one of the most important people is Vietnam’s history. In some areas, she is referred to as “the daughter of the homeland.”

Other Princess Bios

Works Cited

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