Heonjong of Joseon

Yi Hwan was born to Crown Princess Jo and Crown Prince Hyomyeong on 8 September 1827 in Gyeongchunjeon (경춘전; 景春殿) within Changdeok Palace. It was said that when the day before he was born, she dreamt of giving her son a box containing a tree carved with jade, and on the day of his birth, a group of cranes flew from the front room and went around for a long time. She and the others considered it to be strange.^[1]

The young Heonjong ascended to the throne in 1834 at the age of 7 after his grandfather, King Sunjo, died. Heonjong was the youngest monarch to ascend the throne in Joseon's history.^[2] Like King Sunjo, Heonjong took the throne at a young age and his grandmother, Queen Sunwon served as queen regent. Although King Heonjong ascended to the throne, he had no political control over Joseon. When Heonjong reached adulthood, Queen Sunwon refused to give up control. In 1840, the control over the kingdom was then handed down to the Andong Kim clan, the family of his grandmother Queen Sunwon, following the anti-Catholic Gihae persecution of 1839. During Heonjong's reign, he built the Nakseonjae complex and insisted that his beloved concubine, Kim Gyeong-bin, be given sole use of the complex which was an unprecedented move in Joseon's history.^[3]

King Heonjong died after reigning for 15 years in 1849 at the age of 21. He was buried at the Gyeongneung tomb within the Donggureung Tomb Cluster in Seoul, where several kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty were buried, with Queen Hyohyeon and Queen Hyojeong.^[4] As King Heonjong died without an heir, the throne passed to a distant descendant of King Yeongjo, King Cheoljong.

As was customary with the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the chronicle of Heonjong's reign was compiled after his death, in 1851. The compilation of the 16-volume chronicle was supervised by Jo In-yeong, her mother's uncle.

• Father: King Munjo (문조대왕; 18 September 1809 – 25 June 1830)
  • Grandfather: King Sunjo (순조대왕; 29 July 1790 – 13 December 1834)
  • Grandmother: Queen Sunwon (순원왕후), of the (new) Andong Kim clan (신 안동 김씨; 8 June 1789 – 21 September 1857)
• Mother: Queen Sinjeong (신정왕후), of the Pungyang Jo clan (풍양 조씨; 9 January 1809 – 23 May 1890)
  • Grandfather: Jo Man-yeong (조만영), Internal Prince Pungeun (풍은부원군; 1776–1846)
  • Grandmother: Internal Princess Consort Deokan (덕안부부인), of the Eunjin Song clan (은진 송씨; 1776–1834)

Consort(s) and their respective issue

• Queen Hyohyeon (효현왕후), of the (new) Andong Kim clan (신 안동 김씨; 15 April 1828 – 6 October 1843)
• Queen Hyojeong (효정왕후), of the Namyang Hong clan (남양 홍씨; 22 February 1831 – 2 January 1904)
• Concubine Gyeong (경빈), of the Gwangsan Kim clan (광산 김씨; 21 September 1832 – 1 June 1907)
• Concubine Jeong (정빈), of the Haepyeong Yun clan (해평 윤씨; 1833–?)
• Sugui (숙의), of the Gimhae Kim clan (김해 김씨; 1814–1895)
  • Unnamed daughter (1848)

• Portrayed by Jung Hae-in in the 2018 film Heung-boo: The Revolutionist.
• Portrayed by Nam Da-reum in the 2022 film A Birth.

• History of Korea
• List of monarchs of Korea
• Styles and titles in Joseon
• Politics of Joseon