Removal and Death
In 68 BC, Huo Guang died. Emperor Xuan and Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan made the nearly-unprecedent act of personally attending Huo's wake and built an impressive mausoleum for Huo. After Huo's death, Emperor Xuan assumed far more personal powers than he had during Huo's lifetime. Empress Huo's brother Huo Yu (霍禹), nephews Huo Yun (霍雲) and Huo Shan (霍山), and brothers-in-law Fan Mingyou (范明友) and Deng Guanghan (鄧廣漢) remained in key posts, however.
In 67 BC, Emperor Xuan created Prince Shi—the late Empress Xu's son—crown prince, and created Empress Xu's father Xu Guanghan (許廣漢) the Marquess of Ping'en—an action that Huo Guang had opposed. Lady Xian was shocked and displeased, because if her daughter were to have a son later, that son could only be a prince and not the future emperor. She instructed Empress Huo to murder the crown prince. Allegedly, Empress Huo did make multiple attempts to do so, but failed each time. Around this time, the emperor also heard rumors that the Huos had murdered Empress Xu, which led him to begin stripping the Huos of actual power, while giving them impressive titles.
In 66 BC, after there had been increasing public rumors that the Huos had murdered Empress Xu, Lady Xian finally revealed to her son and grandnephews that she had, indeed, murdered Empress Xu. In fear of what the emperor might do if he had actual proof, Lady Xian, her son, her grandnephews, and her sons-in-law formed a conspiracy to depose the emperor. The conspiracy was discovered, and the entire Huo clan was executed by Emperor Xuan.
Emperor Xuan then issued an edict deposing Empress Huo, in which he made no reference to what her family allegedly did but accused her of trying to poison Crown Prince Shi. She was kept in an unused palace. In 54 BC, he was set to exile her to another even more distant palace, and she committed suicide.
| Chinese royalty | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Empress Xu Pingjun |
Empress of Western Han Dynasty 70 BC – 66 BC |
Succeeded by Empress Wang |
Read more about this topic: Empress Huo Chengjun
Famous quotes containing the words removal and/or death:
“If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“If I can, I shall keep my death from saying anything that my life has not already said.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)