Grand empress dowager (also grand dowager empress or grand empress mother) (Chinese and Japanese: 太皇太后; pinyin: tàihuángtàihòu; rōmaji: taikōtaigō; Korean: 태황태후; romaja: Tae Hwang Tae Hu; Vietnamese: Thái Hoàng thái hậu) was a title given to the grandmother, or a woman from the same generation, of the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese emperors. Some grand empress dowagers held regency within the beginning years of reign of an underage emperor. Some of the most prominent empress dowagers held extended long periods of regency, to beyond after the ruler was mature enough to govern alone. This was seen as a source of political turmoil, according to the traditional views of Chinese historians.
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