Empress Nara
| Empress Ulanara | |
|---|---|
| Ulanara, the Step Empress of No Title | |
.jpg) | |
| Spouse | The Qianlong Emperor |
| Father | General Naerbu |
Empress Ulanara (Chinese: 那拉皇后) a.k.a. The Step Empress, (Chinese: 继皇后) 1718 ~ 1767, was the second Empress Consort of the Qing dynasty Qianlong Emperor of China. She was the daughter of General Naerbu of the Manchu yellow banner.
Becoming Empress
During the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor, Ulanara was given by the Emperor to Prince Hongli (the future Qianlong Emperor) as a concubine. When Prince Hongli ascended the throne, Ulanara was given the title Noble Consort Xian (Chinese: 娴贵妃). During the thirteenth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, the former Empress Consort, Empress Xiaoxian, died. The Empress Dowager Chongqing regarded the Noble Consort Xian as someone capable of being an Empress Consort, and urged the Qianlong Emperor to elevate her to an Empress. However, the Qianlong Emperor believed that it was an insult to the former Empress Consort to create a new Empress during her mourning period. Therefore, he firstly elevated Noble Consort Xian to Imperial Noble Consort Xian (Chinese: 娴皇贵妃), and made her in charge of all the court ladies, just like an Empress Consort. When the mourning period of the former Empress was over, Ulanara was elevated to Empress Consort. Half a month after her elevation ceremony, Empress Ulanara accompanied the Emperor to visit many important places, such as the tombs of the earlier emperors, Mount Wutai, and the southern cities. During the seventeenth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, Empress Ulanara gave birth to the twelfth prince, Yongji. The following year, she gave birth to the fifth princess.
Losing favour
During the thirtieth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, Empress Ulanara accompanied the Emperor to tour the South for the fourth time. It became a turning point of Empress Ulanara's life. At the beginning, everything went by normally. On the way, the Qianlong Emperor even celebrated Empress Ulanara's forty-eighth birthday. On February 28, the Qianlong Emperor awarded Empress Ulanara with numerous accommodations. However, on the evening, only three Imperial Consorts accompanied the Qianlong Emperor for dinner, and since the evening of February 28, Empress Ulanara never appeared in public again. Later, it was known that on February 28, the Qianlong Emperor ordered Empress Ulanara to be sent back to Beijing via waterways, and ended his tour to the South. When Emperor Qianlong arrived in Beijing later, he ordered the four monuments that he grant Ulanara at her four elevation ceremonies to be collected back. Meanwhile, he also reduced the servants working for Empress Ulanara. In July, Empress Ulanara only had two maids left, which was the number of servants which the most lowly ranked concubines possess. On July 14 the following year, Empress Ulanara died, aged 49. Furthermore, Emperor Qianlong scaled down Ulanara's funeral ceremony to that of a concubine, and Empress Ulanara was sent to the Yuling Mausoleum for concubines. Her coffin was placed next to the Imperial Noble Consort Chun Hui, similar to a maid servant lying next to her master. The reason why Empress Ulanara lost her favour remained a mystery even today.