Emperor Huizong of Song
When her younger adoptive son, Emperor Huizong of Song, succeeded his brother on the throne at the age of seventeen in 1100, he expressed a wish to the Council of State that his mother was to act as his regent. Because he was seventeen years old and therefore no longer regarded as a minor, his wish caused some debate among the ministers as to how this could be arranged, and to find a precedence case to legitimatize it. On two occasions, and Empress Dowager had ruled during the minority of an Emperor: in the case of Emperor Renzong of Song, and in the case of Emperor Zhezong of Song, during which the child Emperor and Empress Dowager regent both sat together behind a screen in the audience chamber when the Council of State spoke to them, and the birthday of the Empress Dowager was ritually celebrated as that of the ruler and she was declared as such to the Liao state by diplomats.