Court officials noted that the queen consort was exclusive in choosing who she associated with and confided in. She chose to not consummate her marriage on her wedding night as court tradition dictated her to, but later had immense difficulty in conceiving a healthy heir. Her first pregnancy came five years after marriage, at the age of 21, and ended in despair and humiliation when her infant son died shortly after birth. This was followed with losing her first infant daughter at the age of 23, her third infant son at the age of 25, and her fourth infant son at the age of 28; leaving her with Yi Cheok, her only living child, born when she was 24. The queen's failed pregnancies were probably because of the constant conflicts she and her husband faced with the Heungseon Daewongun and other countries during the modernization of the Joseon Dynasty.