QUEEN VICTORIA’S LADIES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5366, 8 June 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

QUEEN VICTORIA’S LADIES.

THE BEDCHAMBER QUESTION IN BRITISH POLITICS • —THE MAIDS'OE HONOR. After the succession of Queen Victoria in 1837, young, and inexperienced (18 years old), her first trouble was in the organization of the. ladies of the. royal household., Those around her were quite agreeable to her, but,they were the wives, sisters) and daughters of the,Mini'. ' isters and friends of the former Sovereign—her uncle, William XV.' When these. Ministers retired, and Sir Robert Peel had formed his Cabinet, he informed her Majesty that -the ministerial changes would include 1 the 1 higher of the court occupied by ladies, including the ladies of her bedchamber, and at the same time implied that it was: impossible that she should have .as her. associates the wives, sisters, and other near relatives of the political opponents of himself; and his new Cabinet. Victoria promptly declared that she would not submit to any change of tbs ladies of her household, and she was supported in. this decision by Lord John Russell and Lord Melbourne. 1 ,

Sir Robert Peel at once offered his resignation, and the old Ministry remained in office until 1841, when their weakness before the country compelled their retirement, and Sir Robert Peel came ■ in; ; and - Queen Victoria, yielded her ladies; to the new Premier. No difficulties were again,;raised son .the ‘‘bed-, chamber” question, says Sir - Thomas Erskine May in his great work on The Constitutional History of England. “The principle that; Sir Robert Peel applied to the household has since been 1 admitted on all sides to be be constitutional. The 1 offices of Mistress of the Robes and Ladies of the Bedchamber, when held > by ladies connected with outgoing Ministers, have been considered ns included in the Ministerial arrangements. But Ladies of the Bedchamber, belonging to families whose political connection has been less pronounced have been suffered to remain in the household without objection; on a change of Ministry.” Still, in selecting the ladies the Qnecn ■exercises the utmost care. No doubtful' person is ever admitted into the charmed circle, 1 and, although equivocal characters from foreign countries may sometimes secure presentation at court by deceiving the Ministers from those countries,-a questionable Englishwoman is a rare thing on such occasions. ■ , I have just glanced over the official list of the ladies near Queen Victoria tor 1878. The Department of the Mistress, of the Robes, of which the Duchess of Wellington is the chief, includes seven Ladies. of the Bedchamber, eight Bedchamber Women, four Extra Bedchamber Women, one Lady Attendant on Princess Beatrice, eight Maids of Honor, and one Extra Maid-of Honor. All are ladies attached to titled families, the Maids of Honor -having each the prefex of “ Hon-” to, her name. - In addition to these are the ladies of almost equal rank in the households of the Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Christiana, and the Marchioness of Lome, tho daughters-in-law and married daughters of Queen Victoria. —The Press. ~