Gwiin Jo (Injo)

Early life

She was initially arranged to become the maid of a lord's daughter, but instead became a palace woman. She used to serve Queen Inyeol's brother-in-law, and the queen was the one who arranged for her to enter the palace.

Royal favorite

She caught King Injo's eye, and became his favorite consort overnight; her rank also changed rapidly, from the lowest sugwon to sowon, soyong, soui, and was finally declared a royal consort of the junior first rank, gwiin.^[3]

No one could beat her in terms of receiving the king’s affection; both Queen Jangnyeol and Sugui Jang failed to receive Injo’s love.

Her personality was described as that of a sensual but cunning woman, and those who were in her bad book would not be safe in front of the king. Because of this, people inside the palace feared her. It was rumored that Lady Jo disturbed the relationship between Injo and Queen Jangnyeol, with the intention to tear them apart.

Feud with the crown princess

Lady Jo harbored hatred towards the family of Crown Prince Sohyeon, particularly Crown Princess Minhoe. Since the day she reached the rank of soyong, she would badmouth them in front of the king and it became a common thing for her to slander them with false accusations. Although there was no record of her involvement with Crown Prince Sohyeon's death, her slanders did not stop after the crown prince died. Because of that, Crown Princess Minhoe suspected her of poisoning her husband.^[4] The acupuncturist who treated Crown Prince Sohyeon before his death was Yi Hyeong-ik, who was rumored to be in a relationship with Lady Jo's mother.

Lady Jo accused the crown princess of attempting to poison Injo, leading to the crown princess' execution.

Later life

After King Injo's death, she was discovered to be involved in an attempt to put a curse on Queen Jangnyeol and on the queen's niece. Kim Chajŏm was her accomplice and was executed. King Hyojong decided to spare the life of Princess Hyomyeong, his half-sister, since she was not involved in the incident. Lady Jo was sentenced to death by poisoning, while her mother, who was also an accomplice, died before she could receive her punishment. There were officials suggesting that Lady Jo be stripped of her position as a royal consort but out of respect for his father who treasured her, King Hyojong did not go through with the idea.^[5]