As Empress
As empress, Empress He was said to be greatly favored by Emperor Ling. She was also described as very jealous and very cruel, and the imperial consorts were all fearful of her. After she became empress, her mother Lady Xing was created the Lady of Wuyang, and her brothers He Jin and He Miao (何苗) began to be promoted quickly.
In 181, a concubine of Emperor Ling, Consort Wang, gave birth to a son named Liu Xie. The jealous Empress He assassinated her by poisoning her rice porridge. Emperor Ling was enraged and wanted to depose her, but the eunuchs pleaded on her behalf, and she was not deposed. Prince Xie was raised personally by Emperor Ling's mother Empress Dowager Dong and known by the circumspect title "Marquess Dong."
As the princes grew in age, Emperor Ling considered whom to create crown prince. Prince Bian was born of the empress and was older, but Emperor Ling viewed his behavior as being insufficiently solemn and therefore considered creating Prince Xie crown prince, but hesitated and could not decide.
Read more about this topic: Empress He (Ling)
Famous quotes containing the word empress:
“We never really are the adults we pretend to be. We wear the mask and perhaps the clothes and posture of grown-ups, but inside our skin we are never as wise or as sure or as strong as we want to convince ourselves and others we are. We may fool all the rest of the people all of the time, but we never fool our parents. They can see behind the mask of adulthood. To her mommy and daddy, the empress never has on any clothes—and knows it.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“The Empress is Legitimist, my cousin is Republican, Morny is Orleanist, I am a socialist; the only Bonapartist is Persigny, and he is mad.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte III (1808–1873)