Artistic License History / Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

• Most of the characters seen in the series wear the Liangbatou hairstyle (the hairstyle in which the hair is parted into two and shaped into a square around a piece of wood), which did not exist back then and was only popularized by Empress Dowager Cixi. The more accurate hairstyle would be the “cloud bun” hairstyle worn by characters in Story Of Yanxi Palace, and Zhen Huan is seen wearing it for one scene.
• Zhen Huan never forced Ruyi to choose between committing suicide or letting Yixiu die. Nor did Yixiu commit suicide to spare Ruyi, for the very simple reason that Yixiu's historical counterpart Empress Xiaojingxian died four years before the Yongzheng Emperor.
• History is ambiguous on whether Ruyi belonged to the Ula-Nara clan (her historical counterpart is known only as Empress Nara, and historians debate whether she was part of the Ula-Nara, Hoifa-Nara, or a different family entirely). Even if Empress Nara was part of the Ula-Nara clan, it's unlikely she was the niece of Empress Xiaojingxian.
• Zhen Huan is referred to as Hongli's adoptive mother. Her historical counterpart Empress Xiaoshengxian was his biological mother. Ironically enough, Hongli was also her only offspring in real life whereas her two biological daughters in the series — Hengchuo and Hengti — are purely made-up characters.
• Very little is known about the real Yuyan (Imperial Noble Consort Shujia), but it's almost certain that she wasn't in love with the king of Joseon. Historically the king at the time was Yeongjo, who bears no resemblance to the king in the series.
  • For part of the series the king of Joseon is only the crown prince, which also doesn't match up with history. Yeongjo became king when Shujia was only a child. The crown prince during the time Ruyi is set was Crown Prince Sado, who was eighteen years younger than Shujia and never became king.
• The dates of deaths of several characters do not match up with their real life's counterparts.
  • Consort Shu didn't die in a fire when Empress Nara gave birth to the Fifth Princess. In fact, she outlived the Step Empress and passed away in 1777.
  • The Ninth Prince's death wasn't a stillbirth. He lived for almost a year after birth.
  • Likewise, the Sixth Princess's death wasn't a miscarriage either. She actually lived until she was 3 years old.
  • The scene where Qianlong orders Giuseppe Castiglione to restore the painting of him and Ruyi couldn't have happened as Giuseppe had already passed away a month before the Step Empress's death.
  • Madam Na in reality had died some years ago before the Step Empress even cut her hair.
• The Empress Dowager comments on how it was dishonorable that the Shunzhi Emperor deposed Empress Erdeni Bumba because of his excessive favor for Consort Donggo. In reality, Consort Donggo only entered the Forbidden City three years after Empress Erdeni Bumba had already been deposed and therefore had nothing to do with Empress Erdeni Bumba's loss of favor and demotion.
• Dowager Noble Consort Wan didn't start out as a Second Class Attendant but as a First Class Attendant.
• Historically, Lady Gao was only referred as Noble Consort with no title since she was the only Noble Consort when she was alive and as such there was no need to distinguish her from the other consorts. The character 慧 is one of the two characters posthumously bestowed on her.
• Empress Xiaoyichun entered the harem earlier than her TV series' counterpart. She was promoted to the rank of Concubine at the same time when Lady Gao was elevated to Imperial Noble Consort in 1745.
• Due to being a Composite Character of Noble Consort Ying and Noble Consort Xin, the latter of whom is omitted from the TV series, Meiruo assumes several historical details attributed to Noble Consort Xin despite taking on the clan name and title of the former character. Noble Consort Ying had actually entered the harem some time before Empress Xiaoxianchun died in 1748 and was conferred the rank of First Class Attendant at first. Noble Consort Xin was actually the one who entered the harem and was initially conferred the rank of Concubine in 1753 after Consort Shu had lost her son. In the same vein, it wasn't Noble Consort Ying who was pregnant with the Sixth Princess but Noble Consort Xin instead.

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