Queen Hyosun


Queen Hyosun of the Pungyang Jo Clan was crown princess of Joseon for one year before the death of her husband Crown Prince Hyojang. She was never known by the title queen during her lifetime. Both Hyosun and her husband were posthumously made the adopted parents of the future King Jeongjo in an attempt to distance the boy from the crimes of his birth father.

Biography

Hyosun was the daughter of Jo Munmyeong, a government official aligned with the Soron faction, and his second wife, who was from the Yi clan of Jeonju. She married Crown Prince Hyojang in 1727 when she was 9, on which occasion her father-in-law, King Yeongjo, gifted her a book of instructions that he had written.
Hyosun's husband died of an unknown illness in 1928 when she was 12 years old. She remained in the palace and reportedly developed a good relationship with the wife of the new crown prince, Lady Hyegyeong.
Hyosun died in the winter of 1751. King Yeongjo was reportedly deeply saddened by her death and led the mourning rites.

Posthumous treatment

Hyosun was initially granted the posthumous title of Lady Hyosun Hyeon and venerated in the same temple as her deceased husband. Her brother-in-law, Crown Prince Sado, was killed in 1762, and Yeongjo issued a decree that made Hyosun and Hyojang the adoptive parents of Sado's eldest son, in a move seen as an attempt to preserve the boy's legitimacy as an heir. On King Jeongjo's succession, Hyosun thus received the posthumous title of Queen Hyosun.
Queen Hyosun was granted the title of Empress Hyosun in 1908 when Emperor Sunjon succeeded to the throne.

Family