page_title: Louise Lehzen
section_title: Supplanted by Prince Albert
hierarchical_section_title: Louise Lehzen / Victoria in power / Supplanted by Prince Albert
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Albert von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha, Lithographie von Franz Seraph Hanfstaengl
context_page_description: Johanna Clara Louise Lehzen, also known as Baroness Louise Lehzen, was the governess and later companion to Queen Victoria.
  Born to a Lutheran pastor in Hanover, in 1819 Lehzen entered the household of the Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George III. Five years later, Lehzen was appointed governess to his only child, Princess Alexandrina Victoria. The young princess became second-in-line to the British throne in 1827.
  Victoria's upbringing was dominated by the controlling Kensington System, implemented by the now widowed Duchess of Kent and her comptroller Sir John Conroy. Lehzen was strongly protective of Victoria, and encouraged the princess to be strong, informed, and independent from the Duchess and Conroy's influence, causing friction within the household. Attempts to remove the governess were unsuccessful, as Lehzen had the support of Victoria’s royal uncles. "Dear, good Lehzen" soon came to supersede all others–including her own mother–in Victoria’s eyes.
  When Victoria became queen in 1837, Lehzen served as a sort of unofficial private secretary, enjoying apartments adjacent to Victoria.
context_section_description: The arrival of Prince Albert led to significant changes in Victoria's household. Lehzen had opposed Coburg ambitions of Victoria marrying Albert, believing the princess to be a "second Queen Elizabeth, virgin and independent of male influence." Albert was well-educated, and had just completed a tour of Europe, preceded by years at the University of Bonn. Victoria's court dismayed his puritan German sensibilities. Lehzen and Albert soon developed a dislike for each other; she regularly thwarted Albert's will in the running of the household; meanwhile, he found her personally repellent and unworthy of befriending the queen, openly referring to her as "the hag" and a "crazy stupid intriguer".
  When Victoria's first child, the Princess Royal, was born, Victoria trusted Lehzen to make the arrangements for the nursery. Lehzen placed it in the care of various staff as well as Sir James Clark, despite Albert's objections that the physician was wholly unsuited to the post, having already discredited himself during the affair of Lady Flora Hastings a year previously. At fourteen months the Princess Royal fell ill, losing her appetite and appearing pale and feverish. Dr Clark declared it a minor ailment, incorrectly prescribing her with calomel, a medication laced with mercury and laudanum. In fact, it is more likely that the precocious princess was simply expressing her dismay at changes in the royal nursery, then occurring with the arrival of her younger brother. Albert, a devoted father, confronted Victoria on the incompetence of the staff selected by Lehzen. There was a quarrel, after which Albert declared that he would leave the affair in her queenly hands, and placed it on her conscience if the child died. 
  Soon after this argument Victoria conceded to her husband, not wishing to see him unhappy. She made a final attempt to defend Lehzen, describing her as a selflessly loyal woman who deserved to remain close to her former charge. But in the face of Albert's resolve, Victoria dismissed Lehzen, ostensibly for her health. To Albert, Lehzen was a servant who had attempted to rise above her place in life, and he wanted Victoria to rely on him alone. Lehzen accepted the fiction of ill health, and agreed to depart. In the days leading up to her exit, she taught some of her duties to Marianne Skerrett, one of Victoria's dressers, and returned her keys to the queen. Lehzen departed on 30 September 1842, leaving a note rather than speaking directly with Victoria, believing that this would be less painful. The queen was initially unaccustomed to Lehzen's absence, having spent almost her whole life up to that point in the presence of the former governess. "It was very painful to me... waking this morning, and recollecting she was really quite away," Victoria said.
  
  Word of Lehzen's departure spread through the court and elsewhere. Reports of the cause varied; the court diarist Charles Greville noted she was leaving "for her health (as she says), to stay five or six months, but it is supposed never to return." The Times however reported that she was simply visiting friends in Germany. After her departure, family adviser Baron Stockmar remarked of the affair that
  [I]t was not without great difficulty that the Prince succeeded in getting rid of [Lehzen]. She was foolish enough to contest his influence, and not to conform herself to the change in her position... If she had done so, and conciliated the P[rince], she might have remained in the Palace to the end of her life.
caption: Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert led to disagreements and Lehzen's eventual dismissal.
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