It is not known when the future Empress Dowager Wang was born, but it is known that her family was from Yue Prefecture. Her family was a family of officials, and her father Wang Shaoqing served as a county magistrate.
When the future Empress Dowager Wang was young, she entered the Crown Prince's palace and became a consort to then-imperial prince Li Heng, and she bore his oldest son Li Zhan in 809. After Li Heng became emperor in 820, she was created an imperial consort rank — although the rank has been lost to history — but was not created empress. In 822, after Emperor Muzong suffered a stroke that rendered him unable to walk, Li Zhan was created crown prince, at the urging of the key officials Li Fengji and Pei Du.
In the spring of 824, Emperor Muzong died and was succeeded by Li Zhan. Emperor Muzong's mother Empress Dowager Guo was honored grand empress dowager, while Consort Wang was honored empress dowager. In summer 824, when a disturbance led by two commoners, Su Xuanming and Zhang Shao, caused Emperor Jingzong to flee the palace briefly and flee to the Shence Army camps, he was concerned about the safety of the two empresses dowager and had the soldiers escort them to the Shence Army camps as well. Only after the disturbance was suppressed did he return to the palace. In 826, Emperor Jingzong was assassinated, purportedly by his polo players, led by Su Zuoming. The eunuch Liu Keming initially supported Emperor Muzong's younger brotherLi Wu the Prince of Jiàng to succeed Emperor Jingzong, but soon the eunuch army commanders Wang Shoucheng, Yang Chenghe, Wei Congjian, and Liang Shouqian killed Liu and Li Wu, supporting Emperor Jingzong's younger brother Li Han the Prince of Jiāng instead. Emperor Wenzong honored his own mother Consort Xiao empress dowager and honored Empress Dowager Wang "Empress Dowager Baoli". There were thus three empresses dowager in the palace at the time. It was said that Emperor Wenzong was filially pious and honored the three empresses dowager properly. Whenever he received valuable food items, he would first submit them to the ancestral temples, then the empresses dowager, before receiving them himself. In 831, the chancellors suggested that there was a confusion between the titles of Grand Empress Dowager Guo and Empress Dowager Wang, and suggested that "Empress Dowager Baoli" was an inappropriate title. They pointed out that in the past, the empresses dowagers were referred to by the names of their palace, and suggested that Empress Dowager Wang be referred to as "Empress Dowager Yi'an" because she resided at Yi'an Hall. Emperor Wenzong agreed. She died in 845, by which time another younger brother of Emperor Jingzong's, Emperor Wuzong, was emperor. She was buried in the eastern gardens at Emperor Muzong's tomb Guangling.
