As Empress
Because of her young age (and her husband's young age as well), it was unlikely that Empress Shangguan had significant power at court after they were married. In 80 BC, however, she would suffer the first major tragedy in her life—the destruction of her paternal clan, the Shangguans.
The Shangguans, in thanks to Ding for his role in setting up the marriage between Empress Shangguan and Emperor Zhao, wanted to have him created a marquess, but were rebuffed by Huo, as were their subsequent efforts to have Ding made an important official. This caused Princess Eyi to resent Huo as well. The Shangguans, Princess Eyi, Prince Dan of Yan, and Vice Prime Minister Sang Hongyang (桑弘羊) (who was resentful that his monopoly system, which he felt to be the key to sound finances for the state, was being dismantled), formed an anti-Huo conspiracy. In 80 BC, Prince Dan sent a report to Emperor Zhao, accusing Huo of improperly exercising imperial authority. The conspirators' plan was that as soon as Emperor Zhao authorized an investigation, Shangguan Jie and Sang would arrest and immediately execute Huo. However, after the report was given to Emperor Zhao, the 14-year-old Emperor Zhao took no action on it; the next day, he summoned Huo to the palace and exonerated him, reasoning that the actions that were accused of Huo had happened so recently that Prince Dan, a long distance away, could not have possibly known them, and therefore the report must have been a forgery. At this point, the anti-Huo conspiracy was not discovered, but the entire empire was impressed at the wisdom of the young emperor.
Later that year, the conspirators would try again. Their plan was for Princess Eyi to invite Huo to a feast, and then to, at the feast, ambush Huo and kill him, and then depose Emperor Zhao and make Prince Dan emperor. (However, allegedly, the Shangguans conspired to instead, once Prince Dan stepped into the capital, to have him killed, and for Shangguan Jie to declare himself emperor.) The conspiracy was revealed by a servant of Princess Eyi, and the conspirators were arrested and executed with their entire clans. Princess Eyi and Prince Dan committed suicide. Empress Shangguan was spared, however, because of her young age and her status as Huo's granddaughter.
In 74 BC, Emperor Zhao died at age 20. Empress Shangguan, then 15, became a widow and would be for the rest of her life. The young couple was childless, and Emperor Zhao did not have any other concubines who had children either. (It is not clear whether the marriage was ever consummated, although it was likely given the tendency for early marriage and childbirth in those days, even for imperial couples.)
Read more about this topic: Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan
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)