Empress dowager

Okay, so imagine you are a prince or a king in a big kingdom. Normally, you have a queen beside you who helps you rule the kingdom. But sometimes, the king dies and the queen is left without a king. When this happens, sometimes the queen takes control of the kingdom and becomes the new ruler.

Now imagine the same thing, but with an empress instead of a queen. An empress is like a queen, but from a country where they use different words. So an empress dowager is an empress who used to be married to a king, but now the king has died and the empress is left without a king.

When this happens, the empress dowager might become the ruler of the kingdom until a new king is chosen. Or she might help the new king (who might be her son or grandson) rule the kingdom until he is old enough to do it by himself.

Basically, an empress dowager is a lady who used to be married to a very important man and now she has become an important lady in her own right.