The title Grand Empress Dowager (also Grand Dowager Empress or Grand Empress Mother) (Chinese: 太皇太后; pinyin: tài huáng tài hòu; Japanese: たいこうたいごう) was given to the grandmother, or a woman from the same generation as the grandmother, of the Chinese, Korean and Japanese dynastic rulers. Some grand empress dowagers held regency within the beginning years of reign of an underage emperor. Some of the most prominent empress dowagers extended long periods of regency, to beyond after the ruler was mature enough to govern alone. This was seen as a source of political turmoil, according to the traditional views of Chinese historians.
Other articles related to "dowager, empress dowager, grand empress dowager, empress":
... He honored Princess Dowager Zheng as an empress dowager ... There were thus three empresses dowager at that time, with Emperor Muzong's mother Consort Guo then being grand empress dowager, and the mother of Emperor ... In 848, Grand Empress Dowager Guo died — purportedly murdered by Emperor Xuānzong ...
... Empress Dowager or Grand Empress Dowager Guo was resented by Concubine Dowager (later Empress Dowager) Zheng ... The Grand Empress Dowager was disrespected by Empress Dowager Zheng and Lee Yi to such an extent that she really attempted suicide by throwing herself of ... Grand Empress Dowager Guo tried to commit suicide as she failed to demand respect from Emperor Xuānzong and Empress Dowager Zheng ...
... Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang (1661—1688), during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor Grand Empress Dowager Cixi (1908), during the reign of the Xuantong Emperor (Puyi) ...
... Grand Empress Dowager Guo continued to be grand empress dowager, but Emperor Xuānzong's mother Consort Zheng was honored as empress dowager ... As a consequent, all Grand Empress Dowager Guo's descendants lost the right to claim the Tang’s crown ... who had previously been a servant girl of Grand Empress Dowager Guo's before she became an imperial consort, resented Grand Empress Dowager Guo, Emperor Xuānzong did not treat Grand Empress Dowager Guo ...
... there is some controversy on the subject—and adopted by Emperor Hui's wife, Empress Zhang Yan ... At the instigation of his grandmother, Empress Dowager Lü, Empress Zhang had Emperor Qianshao's mother put to death ... However, his grandmother, now Grand Empress Dowager Lü, publicly presided over all government affairs ...
Famous quotes containing the words grand and/or empress:
“What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“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)