Grand empress dowager

Grand empress dowager (also grand dowager empress or grand empress mother) (Chinese and Japanese: 太皇太后; pinyin: tàihuángtàihòu; rōmaji: taikōtaigō; Korean: 태황태후 (太皇太后); romaja: Tae Hwang Tae Hu; Vietnamese: Thái Hoàng thái hậu (太皇太后) was a title given to the grandmother, or a woman from the same generation, of a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese emperor in the Chinese cultural sphere.

The great empress dowager was preferred over the empress dowager and had priority over the emperor in terms of respect. Some grand empresses dowager held regency during the emperor's childhood. Some of the most prominent empress dowagers extended their regencies beyond the time when the emperor was old enough to govern alone. This was seen as a source of political turmoil, according to the traditional views of Chinese historians.