Queen Jeonghui

Queen Jeonghui (8 December 1418 – 6 May 1483), of the Papyeong Yun clan, was a posthumous name bestowed on the wife and queen of Yi Yu, King Sejo. She was Queen of Joseon from 1455 until her husband's death in 1468, after which she was honoured as Queen Dowager Jaseong during the reign of her son, Yi Hwang, King Yejong, She was later honoured as Grand Queen Dowager Jaseong  during the reign of her grandson, Yi Hyeol, King Seongjong.

Lady Yun was the first Joseon royal consort to receive the title of Grand Queen Dowager and also serve as Joseon’s first Queen Regent for her young grandson, behind the bamboo silk screen, between 1468 and 1476 with her daughter-in-law, Queen Dowager Insu as adviser, after the sudden death of Yejong in 1469.

Early life
The future Queen Jeonghui was born on 8 December 1418 during the eighteenth year of King Taejong's reign as the 9th child within 10 siblings. Her father was Yun Beon, who would later become Chief State Councillor, and her mother was Lady Lee of the Incheon Lee clan.

Through her great-great-grandfather, Yun Ahn-suk, Queen Jeonghui was a first cousin thrice removed of Royal Consort Hui-bi of the Papyeong Yun clan, who was the consort of King Chunghye of Goryeo. Royal Consort Hui-bi was also a first cousin once removed of Queen Wongyeong as her mother, Lady Min of the Yeoheung Min clan, was the younger sister of the Queen's grandfather. Through her brothers, Queen Jeonghui eventually became a first cousin thrice removed of Queen Jeonghyeon, the great-grandaunt of Queen Janggyeong and Yun Im, and the 3rd great-grandaunt of Queen Munjeong and Yun Won-hyeong.

Through her maternal grandfather, Queen Jeonghui was also a great-grandniece of Royal Consort Geun-bi of the Goseong Yi clan, who was the consort of King U of Goryeo.

Grand Princess
The future Queen later married Grand Prince Suyang at the age of ten in 1428, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month in the tenth year of King Sejong's reign. She was given the titles of Grand Princess Consort Samhanguk and eventually, Grand Internal Princess Consort Nakrang.

There was a lot of controversy surrounding the marriage as it was widely believed that Grand Prince Suyang was supposed to marry her elder sister but instead preferred her for a series of political and social reasons.

Grand Prince Suyang was always seen as a political threat even while he was young to his older brother the future King Munjong because the latter appeared to be much stronger and more competent as a leader which had worried his father to the point of choosing him a wife from a less prominent but dignified family and what was even a conciliatory role to restrain Suyang's ambition was the fact that his principle wife had only received basic education which made her somewhat illiterate based on the fact that she could barely read Hanja.

As the Grand Internal Princess Consort Nakrang, she bore Sejo's sons Prince Dowon and the Future King Yejong and helped her husband in the first coup in which he overthrew Kim Jong-seo and installed himself as the Chief State Chancellor.

Lady Yun became Queen upon her husband's accession to the throne in 1455, after a second coup d'état this time round against his weak and young nephew, King Danjong.

Queen
When Grand Prince Suyang ascended to the throne and became Sejo of Joseon, his legal wife was automatically raised to the status of queen, a move that started the power shift which paved way for the Papyeong Yun clan's entry into the higher corridors of power.

The Queen was very wise and intelligent, had great knowledge of all affairs within and outside the palace while she was quick-witted and cautious, very virtuous and calculative Sejo once praised her to be very diligent in all issues big and small and more than once acted with high regard of her position as a mother of the nation and the head of the Naemyeongbu.

To strengthen her own influence in the Inner Court she had her son elevated to the position of Crown Prince and her daughter-in-law, Han Do-san, elevated to the position of Crown Princess with name of Su. She engineered a series of political marriages within the Royal families and established a strong network of eunuchs and court ladies along with spies in the palace which enabled her to play a conciliatory role for her husband's position.

She made great efforts to further her own education in the Chinese classics even if she was a poor student; even her daughter-in-law’s skill surpassed her’s. During her reign as Queen, order returned to the Inner Court which had collapsed since the death of Queen Soheon in 1446.

Tragically, only two years after her husband Sejo had taken the throne, her eldest son, Crown Prince Uigyeong, Lady Han's husband, perished due to an illness which shocked the entire Country including the aging King, the Queen herself distraught went into a bitter period of depression during his mourning period and seeing that her husband's throne was shaken she orchestrated a number of schemes and convinced him to consider her second son, the future Yejong, as his successor as her grandson, Grand Prince Wolsan, the Grand Heir, at the time was considered too young.

This political decision strained the relationship between the mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law whose firm belief that her son Grand Prince Wolsan was the best choice of a candidate for the position of the Crown Prince. For a moment Sejo himself was hesitant to have Yejong succeed him because his health was naturally poor like that of his uncle, the late King Munjong. But nonetheless, the Queen had her way because the former Crown Princess Su at the time was powerless in rank and the influence of the Cheongju Han clan on Joseon Dynasty politics was at the Genesis of its wane.

Royal Queen Dowager
Sejo outlived his son by eleven years and eventually in 1468, the old and great meritorious King of Joseon perished having upheld the legacy of his father Sejong of Joseon and was immediately succeeded by his second son who became Yejong of Joseon; a decision that was greatly influenced by his spouse who was elevated to the rank of Royal Queen Dowager with the honorary name of Jaesong.

Because Yejong was weak and sickly, the officials supported the Queen Dowager, who being the most influential elder in the palace, King's mother and political protectress, to pursue an unofficial regency.

Queen Dowager Jaesong oversaw all civil and military matters on behalf of the King and this further strengthened her political footing by appointing able Ministers, and members of her family, to senior official positions until she came to dominate the entire court. She was the second woman in the dynasty to wield tremendous power after Queen Wongyeong of the Yeoheung Min clan, who was also the Queen Consort of Taejong of Joseon.

Her daughter-in-law's position was strained to the point that she had not received a royal title owing to the fact that her son's position as the Grand Heir had gradually been lost with the birth of Yejong's first son in 1465 after the death of her husband.

The Queen eventually relinquished the role when Yejong's health showed great improvement as it had started to stirr the strongly Confucian Joseon society and had seemingly attracted too much censure from the scholars of Sungkyunkwan. But nonetheless virtually held onto her political power as she struggled to limit the power of the royal clan which still had a number of Princes that opposed Sejo's line of succession.

Grand Royal Queen Dowager and regent
In 1469, roughly a year since King Yejong had ascended the throne and had showed signs of recovery, he died suddenly at the age of 20 without having named his successor and another fierce strife ensued within the court.

Yejong's eldest son, the Grand Prince Jean with Queen Dowager Inhye, was only four years old and the Officials were strongly opposed to the idea of having a very young King because of two main reasons, the first being that political power would either solely slide into the Monopoly of either the royal clan through ambitious Royal relatives, or the King's maternal relatives, and secondly, because the tragic fate of Danjong of Joseon was most likely to repeat itself.

As the first occupant of the position of Grand Queen Dowager of the nation, the Grand Queen Dowager was the most senior surviving member of the Royal household. She reserved the right to solve the official dispute by choosing a successor that would be acceptable and, for her position, instrumental.

The choice of the new King sufficed as Yejong was succeeded by his youngest nephew and Queen Jeonghui's grandson, Grand Prince Jalsan, who was third in the line of succession to the throne, rather than his own son, Grand Prince Jean. The official reasons given were that Grand Prince Jean was deemed to young at 4 years old to become King and that Grand Prince Wolsan was too sickly, but the more likely reason for this choice was Jalsan's marriage to the daughter, Han Song-yi, of the powerful Han Myeong-hoe who had initially helped Sejo take power and much allied himself with Queen Jeonghui during his lifetime.

As Seongjong was only 13 at the time of his accession and still a minor, the Royal Court invited Queen Jeonghui to rule the nation as regent in his stead. Occupying the position officially this time round though still observing the initial prerogatives, she'd exercised during her first informal regency and equally forming a regency council with her as the head.

This time round, her daughter-in-law and Seongjong's mother (whose husband had never actually been King) was to function as her political advisor, to pacify the Han clan which backed her into making a political comeback, that she equally reviewed petitions revised by the Royal Grand Queen Dowager. But her position was still strained as she was yet to receive a royal title and at times the Royal Grand Queen Dowager acted independently even without her knowledge on most affairs that Queen Insu's political influence was still curtailed. With her seniority, she had a say in who could be the wife of her grandson, and personally selected the daughter (the future Queen Jeonghyeon) of her first cousin twice removed to be the third Queen consort of her grandson after deposing Queen Yun.

When political pressure increased, the Grand Queen Dowager named Insu as the Queen but with an unspecified status first because she was not the Queen Consort of her own son, Seongjeong. This was because Queen Jangsun, a distant relative of Lady Han, and King Yejong were made the king’s adoptive parents.

Secondly, because she was not the widow of the former King, her husband was posthumously made as King. Since Lady Han was still alive, the Queen Mother needed to determine her rank between King Yejong’s second wife and widow, Queen Dowager Inhye, and Queen Dowager Insu. This eventually induced her to designate insu as the senior between both Queen Dowager’s.

It was during her regency that the Joseon Dynasty enjoyed political stability. Diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty peaked with trade flourishing between the two countries and furthermore, a significant move was made for the commoner farmers to receive the right to cultivate fields that had originally belonged to the military. In 1474, the code of law, first ordered by King Sejo, was completed and put into effect and as a patron of the Arts and Buddhism, she commissioned Buddhist paintings and Sutras. The most famous perhaps being the Sutra that was Commissioned by the three queen dowagers, herself, Insu and lnhye.

Queen Jeonghui's regency ultimately ended in 1476 when she stepped down as King Seongjeong had reached of age. She loosely held onto her political power as she was wary of her daughter-in-law's ambition and still consulted on some official matters but preferred to be reserved and active only with affairs within the palace. Her final vivid exercise of royal power was her conniving with officials and intense aggression towards Seongjeong's second Queen Consort forcing her to deposition, and was known afterwards as Deposed Queen Yun, after her altercation with two of his concubines and her scratching the king’s face, eventually ordering for her to commit suicide by poison in 1482.

She died peacefully on 6 May 1483, in the fourteenth year of King Seongjong's reign at the age of 65 having outlived her husband by 15 years. She was posthumously honored as Queen Jeonghui. After her death, all political power shifted into the hands of Queen Dowager Insu, and the Cheongju Han clan, who became the most influential elder in the palace.

Legacy
Her reign and regency was well received, and her influence in politics was embraced by a majority of the people having been one of the most successful regencies held in the history of Joseon. Ultimately, her younger brother’s descendant, Queen Munjeong (the third wife of King Jungjong) is widely believed to have inherited most of her traits. Very much like her great-great-grandaunt, she stood out to be one of the most politically apt and broad-minded Joseon Queens, past example being Queen Wongyeong and future examples being Queen Myeongseong and Empress Myeongseong, to have lived.

Family

 * Father − Yun Beon, Duke Jeongjeong, Yeonguijeong, Internal Prince Papyeong (1384–1448)
 * Mother − Grand Internal Princess Consort Heungnyeong of the Incheon Lee clan (1383–1456)

Sibling(s)

6 older sisters, 2 older brothers, 1 younger brother
 * Older sister − Lady Yun of the Papyeong Yun clan (1399–?)
 * Older brother − Yun Sa-bun, Duke Yijeong, Prince Paseong (1401–1471)
 * Older sister − Lady Yun of the Papyeong Yun clan (1403–?)
 * Older sister − Lady Yun of the Papyeong Yun clan (1405–?)
 * Older brother − Yun Sa-yun, Duke Seongan, Prince Yeongpyeong (1409 – 7 December 1461).
 * Older sister − Lady Yun of the Papyeong Yun clan (1410–?)
 * Older sister − Lady Yun of the Papyeong Yun clan (1412–?)
 * Older sister − Princess Consort Anseong of the Papyeong Yun clan (1417–?)
 * Younger brother − Yun Sa-heun, Duke Yangpyeong, Internal Prince Pacheon (1422–1485)

Husband


 * King Sejo of Joseon (2 November 1417 – 23 September 1468)

Issue


 * Son - Yi Jang, Crown Prince Uigyeong (3 October 1438 – 20 September 1457)
 * Daughter-in-law - Han Do-san, Crown Princess Consort Su of the Cheongju Han clan (7 October 1437 – 11 May 1504)
 * Grandson − Yi Jeong, Grand Prince Wolsan (5 January 1455 - 22 January 1489)
 * Granddaughter − Princess Myeongsuk (1456–1482)
 * Grandson − Yi Hyeol, King Seongjong (19 August 1457 – 19 January 1495)
 * Daughter - Yi Se-seon, Princess Uisuk (1441–1477)
 * Son - Yi Hwang, King Yejong (14 January 1450 – 31 December 1469)
 * Daughter - Yi Se-hui, Princess Uiryeong or Princess Uihwa.

In popular culture

 * Portrayed by Jung Hye-sun in the 1984–1985 MBC TV series The Ume Tree in the Midst of the Snow
 * Portrayed by Choi Ran in the 1990 KBS TV series Dance Toward the Broken Heavens 
 * Portrayed by Hong Se-mi in the 1994 KBS TV series Han Myeong-hoe
 * Portrayed by Han Hye-sook in the 1998–2000 KBS TV series King and Queen.
 * Portrayed by Yang Mi-kyung in the 2007–2008 SBS TV series The King and I.
 * Portrayed by Kim Seo-ra in the 2011 KBS2 TV series The Princess' Man.
 * Portrayed by Kim Mi-sook in the 2011–2012 JTBC TV series Insu, The Queen Mother.
 * Portrayed by Kim Ae-ran in 2023 MBC TV series Joseon Attorney.