Wu Zetian deposed one son, had another forced to kill himself, made herself emperor, and was buried as an empress in her husband's sealed tomb

Wu Zetian was empress to Emperor Gaozong. Their son Zhongzong took the throne after his father died. The Zizhi Tongjian records that early in 684 he said he could give the empire to his father-in-law, Wei Xuanzhen, if he liked. In the second month the empress dowager had him taken down from the throne hall and made Prince of Luling. He asked, "What is my crime?" She installed another son, Ruizong, and kept him from government. That year she sent the general Qiu Shenji to her exiled son Li Xian, the former crown prince, at Bazhou; Qiu locked him in a room and forced him to kill himself. She then blamed Qiu and demoted him. In 690 she renamed the dynasty Zhou, took the title Holy and Divine Emperor, gave Ruizong her surname and built seven temples to the Wu ancestors. Her nephews Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi sought to be named heir. The minister Di Renjie asked her whether an aunt and nephew were closer than mother and son: a son would place her in the imperial temple, and no nephew had ever placed an aunt there. She recalled Zhongzong in 698. A coup restored him in 705. She died that year at 82. Her last edict dropped her imperial title. An official argued against cutting open Gaozong's iron-sealed tomb at Qianling; he was overruled, and she was buried with Gaozong. In 2012 Shaanxi officials said the tomb, never robbed, would not be excavated for at least 50 years.