List of Joseon royal consorts
The following is a list of queen consorts, queen dowagers and grand queen dowagers of Kingdom of Joseon and empress consort and empress dowager of Korean Empire.
Title
The Joseon dynasty was a Korean dynastic kingdom that lasted for five centuries. Joseon King accepted Chinese suzerainty and acknowledged the Chinese emperor as their nominal overlord until the Gabo Reform in December 1894. The Primary Consort of the Joseon King bore the title wangbi, translated as Queen in English, with the style of "Her Royal Highness". The title used in the court language was junggungjeon or jungjeon, translated as "Center Palace" in English. Wanghu, the title for the Primary Consort of the King during pre-Joseon era, became a posthumous title.The title Royal Queen Dowager was given to the widow of a king. Queen Dowager, originally was the short form of Royal Queen Dowager, but it became a lesser rank title during the reign of King Cheoljong and King Gojong. The widow of the previous king was called the Grand Royal Queen Dowager,.
After Second Gabo Reform in December 1894, which proclaimed the severance of the subordinate relationship with China, royal titles also changed. The title changed from wangbi to wanghu and from wangdaebi to wangtaehu.
In October 1897, King Gojong proclaimed Korea as an empire and he assumed the title of Emperor in order to assert Korea's independence. Automatically, his wife held the title of empress consort and the monarch's widow held the title empress dowager. From all the consorts of Joseon's ruler, only Empress Sunjeong held the rank of empress consort during her lifetime. Empress Myeongseong died in 1895, two years before the Korean Empire was proclaimed.
List
Queens and empresses consort
Kingdom of Joseon'''Korean Empire'''
Queens and queen dowagers
Kingdom of Joseon'''Korean Empire'''