List of Famous people named Empress

Masako is Empress of Japan and the wife of Emperor Naruhito, who ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Masako, who was educated at Harvard and Oxford, had a prior career as a diplomat.

Empress Dowager Cixi, of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese empress dowager and regent who was the de facto supreme ruler of China in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years, from 1861 until her death in 1908. Selected as a concubine of the Xianfeng Emperor in her adolescence, she gave birth to a son, Zaichun, in 1856. After the Xianfeng Emperor's death in 1861, the young boy became the Tongzhi Emperor, and she became the Empress Dowager. Cixi ousted a group of regents appointed by the late emperor and assumed regency, which she shared with Empress Dowager Ci'an. Cixi then consolidated control over the dynasty when she installed her nephew as the Guangxu Emperor at the death of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875, contrary to the traditional rules of succession of the Qing dynasty that had ruled China since 1644.

Empress Xiaoyichun, of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Weigiya clan, was a consort of the Qianlong Emperor.

Empress Matilda, also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as a child when she married the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She travelled with her husband into Italy in 1116, was controversially crowned in St Peter's Basilica, and acted as the imperial regent in Italy. Matilda and Henry V had no children, and when he died in 1125, the imperial crown was claimed by his rival Lothair of Supplinburg.

Empress Myeongseong or Empress Myung-Sung, known informally as Queen Min, was the first official wife of Gojong, the twenty-sixth king of Joseon and the first emperor of the Korean Empire.

Empress Xiaoxianchun, of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Fuca clan, was a posthumous name bestowed to the wife and first empress consort of Hongli, the Qianlong Emperor. She was Empress consort of Qing from 1738 until her death in 1748. She was described as a respected and virtuous person, praised and favoured by the emperor. She did not like spending money for her own good and took her duties seriously when it came to Confucian rituals.

Wanrong, of the Gobulo clan of the Manchu Plain White Banner Gobulo clan, was the wife and empress consort of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, sometimes anachronistically called the “Xuantong Empress”, referring to Puyi’s era name. She was titular empress consort of the Qing dynasty from 1922 until her death, and later became the empress consort of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo from 1934 until abolition of the monarchy in 1945. She was posthumously honored with the title Empress Xiaokemin.

Empress Gi, known as Empress Qi in Chinese and Öljei Khutuk in Mongolian, was one of the primary empresses of Toghon Temur of the Yuan dynasty and the mother of Biligtü Khan. She was originally from an aristocratic family of Goryeo, present-day Korea, and served as a Yuan dynasty imperial concubine of Togoon Tumur.

Empress Xiaoshengxian, of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner Niohuru clan, was a posthumous name bestowed to the consort of Yinzhen, the Yongzheng Emperor and mother of Hongli, the Qianlong Emperor. She was honoured as Empress Dowager Chongqing during the reign of her son and posthumously honoured as empress, although she never held the rank of empress consort during her lifetime.

Dugu Qieluo or Dugu Jialuo, formally Empress Wenxian (文獻皇后), was an empress of the Chinese Sui dynasty. She was the wife of Emperor Wen, who, on account of his love and respect for her, as well as an oath they made while they were young, did not have any concubines for at least most of their marriage, an extreme rarity among Chinese emperors. She also bore him all his 10 children. She was exceedingly powerful and influential during her husband's reign and very effective in managing the government. She was heavily involved in his decision to divert the order of succession from their oldest son Yang Yong to the second son Yang Guang.