As Empress
In 57, Emperor Guangwu died, and Crown Prince Zhuang ascended the throne as Emperor Ming. Consort Ma became an imperial consort. In 60, he created her empress and created Prince Da crown prince.
As empress, Empress Ma was described as humble and solemn, and she loved reading. She often wore the less expensive white silk without elaborate designs. The imperial consorts and princesses were all surprised by how thrift she was and yet impressed by her. Emperor Ming often consulted her on important matters of state when he could not make a decision quickly. She would analyze the issues carefully and come up with good suggestions. One thing she was described of having never done was to request favors for her brothers and cousins. Because of this, Emperor Ming continued to respect her and love her.
In 71, as mass tortures and executions were being carried out as a result of a conspiracy that Emperor Ming's brother Liu Ying, the Prince of Chu, engaged in, Empress Ma interceded on the accused people's behalf, and as a result, Emperor Ming tapered off on the efforts to stamp out anyone who might be remotely connected with the conspiracy.
In 72, when Emperor Ming created his sons princes, he gave them relatively small principalities. Empress Ma objected — she did not understand why these principalities were only half as large as the ones for Emperor Guangwu's sons. Emperor Ming responded that of course his sons could not be compared with his father's sons — a response that she would remember and agree with.
In 75, Emperor Ming died, and Crown Prince Da ascended the throne as Emperor Zhang. Empress Ma became empress dowager.
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Famous quotes containing the word empress:
“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)
“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)