Princess Hwawan

Princess Hwawan (Hangul: 화완옹주, Hanja: 和缓翁主) (1737 - 1808) was a Joseon princess and the third daughter of King Yeongjo of Joseon.

Biography

Princess Hwawan was born in 1737. She was the third daughter of King Yeongjo of Joseon. Her mother was Yeongjo's concubine, Royal Noble Consort Yeong of the Lee clan. She married Ilseongwi Jeong Chidal (Hangul: 정치달, Hanja: 鄭致達). They had one daughter who died at the age of two. The couple also had one adoptive son, Jeong Hugyeom (Hangul: 정후겸, Hanja: 鄭厚謙) (1749-1776). Jeong Chidal died young, leaving Princess Hwawan a widow.

Princess Hwawan did not have a good relationship with her younger brother, Crown Prince Sado (also born of Royal Noble Consort Yeong), who was jealous of her close relationship with their father (Crown Prince Sado's relationship with King Yeongjo was a rather tense one). She joined forces with King Yeongjo's second wife, Queen Jeongsun, to frame Sado, eventually leading to his execution.

Eventually, Princess Hwawan's machinations were discovered by King Jeongjo of Joseon, Crown Prince Sado's son and Princess Hwawan's nephew, and she was sent into exile. She was allowed to return to the royal court in 1782, but was sent into permanent exile in 1784. She died in 1808, on the seventeenth day of the fifth lunar month in the eighth year of the reign of King Sunjo of Joseon, in Paju (Hangul: 파주, Hanja: 坡州).