Empress Orchid refuses to give up her power, as she believes that Alute only sees the "glamour and glory" of being an Empress. Tung Chih's illness worsens and in 1875 he dies with his mother beside him. Her annoyance soon turns to happiness when Alute claims that she is pregnant with Tung Chih's first child. Orchid becomes irritated at Alute's lack of co-operation, and is further annoyed with Alute's rude attitude towards her. His death had a great emotional impact on Empress Orchid.Īround one year later, tension begins to mount between Orchid and Alute.
The Selection of Imperial is followed by the suspicious death of Orchid's close friend and eunuch An-te-hai. It was only due to Empress Nuharoo's rank as the higher wife that Alute was chosen. Orchid's preferred selection for Empress was the daughter of a provincial governor named Foo-cha. The chosen Empress is a "cat-eyed, eighteen-year-old beauty" called Alute. In 1849, the Selection of Imperial begins for him is completed. Empress Orchid's son Tung Chih is also beginning to hate her, much to her despair. The story begins with the death of Orchid's mother.
Akin to the bestselling and preceding novel in the series Empress Orchid, names within the story are different in spelling but retain the same pronunciation - allowing the reader to identify each relevant character to his or her real life counterpart. The Last Empress is a historical novel by Anchee Min that provides a sympathetic account of the life of Empress Dowager Cixi (referred to as Empress Orchid), from her rise to power as Empress Tzu-Hsi, until her death at 72 years of age.
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