The letters of Queen Victoria, vol. 1, 1837-1843

by Queen of Great Britain Victoria

and he said he would return in two or three hours with the result, which I said I should await.³⁵

Footnote 35: It was a curious circumstance, much commented on at the time, that in the Globe of 9th May, a Ministerial evening paper, which would probably have gone to press at two o'clock in the afternoon, the following paragraph appeared: "The determination which it is well known Her Majesty has taken, not to allow the change in the Government to interfere with the ladies of her Court, has given great offence to the Tories."

Queen Victoria to Viscount Melbourne.

Buckingham Palace, 9th May 1839.

The Queen has received Lord Melbourne's letter. Lord Melbourne will since have heard what has taken place. Lord Melbourne must not think the Queen rash in her conduct; she saw both the Duke and Sir Robert again, and declared to them she could not change her opinion. The Ladies are not (as the Duke imagined was stated in the Civil List Bill) in the place of the Lords; and the Queen felt this was an attempt to see whether she could be led and managed like a child; if it should lead to Sir Robert Peel's refusing to undertake the formation of the Government, which would be absurd, the Queen will feel satisfied that she has only been defending her own rights, on a point which so nearly concerned her person, and which, if they had succeeded in, would have led to every sort of unfair attempt at power; the Queen maintains all her ladies,—and thinks her Prime Minister will cut a sorry figure indeed if he resigns on this. Sir Robert is gone to consult with his friends, and will return in two or three hours with his decision. The Queen also maintained the Mistress of the Robes, for as he said only those who are in Parliament shall be removed, I should like to know if they mean to give the Ladies seats in Parliament?

We shall see what will be done. The Queen would not have stood so firmly on the Grooms and Equerries, but her Ladies are entirely her own affair, and not the Ministers'.

Viscount Melbourne to Queen Victoria.

THE CRISIS

9th May 1839.