How was a crown prince chosen in the Joseon Dynasty?

The basic principle of royal succession was that the eldest son born to the queen would become the heir to the throne.

Before formal investiture, he was known as the wonja. Only after the official ceremony did he become the crown prince.

In practice, however, royal succession did not always follow this principle.

Circumstances within the royal family and the political situation could lead to a different outcome.

In Joseon, establishing the crown prince was sometimes described as “establishing the foundation of the state.”

There was good reason for this.

The growth of one crown prince was directly tied to the kingdom’s next era.

The crown prince was also known as the Donggung, or Eastern Palace, because his residence was traditionally located to the east.

He was also associated with spring and was sometimes called the Chungung, or Spring Palace.

The east, where the sun rises.

Spring, when the year begins anew.

The crown prince represented the age that was yet to come.

Crown Prince Hyomyeong, the central figure of this exhibition, also passed through a long period of preparation.

In 1817, he went to Seonggyun-gwan, the National Confucian Academy, for a formal entrance ceremony in which he asked to be received as a student.

Exactly ten years later, in 1827, he began conducting affairs of state on behalf of his father, King Sunjo.

The crown prince who had once stood before his teacher as a student was now receiving reports from officials and making judgments on matters of state.

Ten years lay between those two moments.

And those years were filled with learning in preparation for kingship.