Bedchamber Crisis
Clash Royale CLAN TAG #URR8PPP Satire of the crisis by John Doyle, 31 December 1840 The Bedchamber Crisis occurred on 7 May 1839 after Whig politician Lord Melbourne declared his intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after a government bill passed by a very narrow margin of only five votes in the House of Commons. The distraught young Queen Victoria, whose ardent political sympathies were with the Whigs, first asked the Duke of Wellington, a former Tory prime minister, to form a new government, but he politely declined. She then reluctantly invited Conservative leader Robert Peel to form a government. Peel realised that such a government would hold a minority in the House of Commons and would be structurally weak, possibly damaging his future political career. [1] Peel accepted the invitation on the condition that Victoria dismiss some of her Ladies of the Bedchamber, [2] many of whom were wives or relatives of leading Whig politicians. She refused the request, ...