I wouldn't be surprised if the true Emperor is already dead, and the 'Emperor' that appeared before the Senate was a clone. It might be a conspiracy to establish Arissa Lavigny as the successor. Human cloning is both possible and legal within the Empire, after all.
EDIT: That reminded me of this (skip to 2:20):
[video=youtube;YnvlDMbLPnY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnvlDMbLPnY[/video]