Émile Vedel

A close friend to French writer Pierre Loti, Émile Vedel (21 Aug 1858, Marseilles — 12 Fev 1937, Tahiti, French Polynesia) was a naval officer and a writer who traveled extensively through the Far East — he adopted as his daughter the Taihitian princess Takau-Pomare — and wrote one of the first modern descriptions of Angkor. He died in Tahiti.

One of the first submarine commanders in the French Marine Nationale, Émile Vedel authored several travel books and novels, including Lumieres d’Orient or L’ile d’épouvante. With Pierre Loti, he translated into French Shakespeare’s King Lear. He was one of the few people at Loti’s deathbed and one of the very few allowed to visit his grave within the walls of his family home on the Isle of Oléron near La Rochelle. Later on, he edited his friend’s Journal and personal papers.

Ari’i-manihinihi Te-vahine-rere-atua-i-Fareia, better known as Princess Takau Pōmare-Vedel (January 4, 1887 — June 27, 1976) Princess Takau-Pomaré-Vedel, daughter of the Taihitian Queen consortJoanna Marau Taaroa a Tepau Salmon (1860−1935):