Biography

Lady Guo was selected as concubine to the crown prince, Zhu Changluo, in 1601. Her father, Guo Weicheng, was enfeoffed as Count of Boping (博平) as a result of her status, and later raised to the rank of marquis. She died in 1613.

Burial

Lady Guo died while her husband was still crown prince, and her burial with the accoutrements and rituals of an imperial crown prince's concubine was prevented by her father-in-law, the Wanli Emperor. It was not until an assassination attempt against Zhu Changluo in 1615, allegedly orchestrated by his father's favourite concubine Noble Consort Zheng, that popular opinion forced the emperor to acknowledge his eldest son and grant Lady Guo a proper burial. At this time, she was granted the posthumous name of Crown Princess Gongjing. When the Tianqi Emperor, her husband's son by a concubine, ascended the throne, he granted her the posthumous title of Empress and had her remains moved to the Ming tombs, where she was buried alongside the short-lived Taichang Emperor and included in the family shrine.

生平

郭氏于萬曆二十九年（1601年），經過選秀成為太子朱常洛之妃。生長女懷淑公主。萬曆四十一年（1613年）十二月二十四日薨逝，謚號恭靖太子妃。

後來，太子朱常洛即位，是為明光宗，但光宗在位29日後便駕崩，來不及追封郭氏。一直到明熹宗即位後，才上嫡母郭氏諡號為孝元昭懿哲惠莊仁合天弼聖貞皇后，遷葬慶陵，祔廟。