By the age of twenty, the queen consort had begun to wander outside her apartments at Changgyeong Palace and to play an active part in politics in spite of the Daewongun and various high officials, who viewed her as becoming meddlesome. The political struggle between the queen consort and the Heungseon Daewongun became public when the son she bore died prematurely four days after birth. The Heungseon Daewongun publicly accused her of being unable to bear a healthy male child, while she suspected her father-in-law of foul play through the ginseng emetic treatment he had brought her. It was probably likely from then on that the Empress started to hold a strong hatred for her father-in-law. The Daewongun then directed Gojong to conceive through concubine Yi Gwi-in from the Yeongbo Hall (영보당귀인 이씨), and on 16 April 1868, she gave birth to Prince Wanhwa (완화군), to whom the Daewongun gave the title of crown prince. It was said that the Heungseon Daewongun was so overwhelmed with joy with Gojong's first born son that the Empress wasn't acknowledged as much.