VI explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Power and Independence

  Victoria asserts her independence from King Leopold's political interference, demonstrating an unyielding front and a determination to control foreign policy herself.

• Public Perception and Popularity

  The Lady Flora Hastings scandal causes Victoria's once-radiant popularity to entirely disappear, highlighting the fragility of public opinion.

• Social Class and Etiquette

  Rigid palace etiquette and the involvement of high society in the scandal underscore the importance of social norms and the consequences of their violation.

Characters to notice

• Queen Victoria

  Shows an unyielding front towards King Leopold, a mix of lightheartedness and fixed determination, and a peremptory temper. Her self-will and obstinacy are noted, and she becomes involved in the Lady Flora Hastings scandal.

• King Leopold

  Corresponds with Victoria but is rebuffed in his attempts to influence foreign policy. His insinuations and entreaties are useless against the Queen's rigidity.

• Duchess of Kent

  Remains in Buckingham Palace as a discarded figure, powerless and inconsolable, still surrounded by Sir John Conroy and the hostilities from Kensington.

• Sir John Conroy

  Banished from the Queen's presence but still presides over the Duchess of Kent's household, contributing to ongoing tensions.

• Lady Flora Hastings

  Becomes the subject of a scandal when her figure changes after traveling with Sir John Conroy. She is subjected to a medical examination that exonerates her, but the affair damages the Queen's reputation.

• Baroness Lehzen

  Influences palace etiquette and is involved in the palace hostilities; her animosity towards Lady Flora Hastings is noted.

• Sir James Clark

  The royal physician who consults Lady Flora and behaves rudely during her medical examination. He is not dismissed despite the Hastings family's demands.

• Lord Melbourne

  Fails to control the Lady Flora Hastings scandal due to his lazy and easygoing nature, allowing the situation to escalate.

• Duke of Wellington

  Consulted on the awkward question of Sir James Clark's position; advises that Sir James must stay to avoid a public enquiry.

Key passages

• “The foreign policy of England was not his province; it was hers and her Ministers’; his insinuations, his entreaties, his struggles⁠—all were quite useless; and he must understand that this was so.”

  Victoria made it clear to King Leopold that foreign policy was her and her ministers' responsibility, not his, and that his attempts to influence it were futile.

  Highlights Victoria's firm assertion of her authority over foreign affairs.

• “The self-will depicted in those small projecting teeth and that small receding chin was of a more dismaying kind than that which a powerful jaw betokens; it was a self-will imperturbable, impenetrable, unintelligent; a self-will dangerously akin to obstinacy.”

  Victoria's physical features suggested a stubborn and unyielding nature that was more alarming than a strong jaw would indicate, being imperturbable and obstinate.

  Describes the Queen's character as obstinate and unyielding.

• “By the end of March, the popularity, so radiant and so abundant, with which the young Sovereign had begun her reign, had entirely disappeared.”

  By March 1839, the immense popularity that Victoria enjoyed at the start of her reign had completely vanished.

  Summarizes the dramatic fall in public favor due to the scandal.