Madame Nhu

ROME — Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu, the outspoken beauty who served as South Vietnam’s unofficial first lady early in the Vietnam War and earned the nickname “Dragon Lady,” died Sunday in a Rome hospital. She was 86.

Her husband was the head of South Vietnam’s secret police, and his bachelor brother, President Ngo Dinh Diem, served from 1955 to 1963. She took on the role of first lady as U.S.-backed South Vietnam fought northern communist forces before Washington broadened its military effort.

She went into exile after her husband, Ngo Dinh Nhu, was killed along with Diem in a U.S.-backed coup on Nov. 1, 1963, ending his eight-year rule.