As Empress
After Liu Yu's impulsive and violent nephew Emperor Qianfei was assassinated in 465, Liu Yu, considered kind and open-minded by the officials and court attendants, was declared emperor (as Emperor Ming). He created Princess Wang empress. However, contrary to his pre-ascension reputation, he soon turned cruel and immoral as well. Official historical accounts written during the subsequent Southern Qi Dynasty said that he was also impotent, and that although he had 12 sons, those were the results of his having seized his brothers' pregnant concubines and kept the children if they bore males, or his having had his concubines have sexual relations with others. (However, the fact that Empress Wang had two daughters may argue against such allegations, because it appeared rather unlikely that Emperor Ming would do this over female children—indeed, the allegations stated that he would only do this if his brothers' concubines bore males—or that the morally upright Empress Wang would engage in sexual relations with others, thus suggesting that the allegations were made to delegitimize Emperor Ming's sons Emperor Houfei and Emperor Shun vis-à-vis Southern Qi.) In one famous incident in 470, Emperor Ming held an imperial feast inside the palace, and ordered his ladies in waiting to strip for the guests. Empress Wang, embarrassed, covered her eyes with a fan. In anger, Emperor Ming said, "Your household is so naïve and unaware of the world. Today everyone is trying to have fun, so why are you covering your eyes?" She responded, "There are many ways to have fun. What kind of a scene is it for aunts and sisters to gather to watch naked ladies in waiting and laugh about it? The fun that our household has is different." He became angrier and chased her away. When her brother (who had by now changed his name to Wang Jingwen (王景文) to observe naming taboo) heard this, he commented, "My sister was meek before she was married. I am surprised that now she can be so upright."
In 472, Emperor Ming grew seriously ill, and he, believing that after his death, Empress Wang would become regent, and that her brother Wang Jingwen would become overly powerful, so he forced Wang Jingwen to commit suicide. He then died and was succeeded by his oldest son (by his concubine Consort Chen Miaodeng), Liu Yu (different character than Emperor Ming), as Emperor Houfei.
Read more about this topic: Empress Wang Zhenfeng
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)