ABSTRACT
Lord Melbourne’s government resigned after it secured only a majority of five in the House of Commons on its legislation for the government of Jamaica. After first approaching the Duke of Wellington, Peel was commissioned to form a new government by Queen Victoria on 8 May 1839.
As part of the arrangements for forming an administration, Peel requested that the Queen signify her confidence in the new government by agreeing to change some of her Ladies of the Bedchamber, who were the close relatives of leading Whigs. The Queen refused Peel’s request and privately complained of being insulted and ill-used by him. Under these circumstances, Peel resigned the commission to form a government and Melbourne was restored to power.
In his speech to the House of Commons, following the ‘Bedchamber Crisis’, Peel expressed a wish to ‘do entire justice to that illustrious Lady who has been a party in this transaction’. Peel’s explanation relied upon reading out official correspondence, rather than referring to personal communications. This included the letter in which the Queen refused ‘to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings’.
Peel argued that it was particularly necessary to demonstrate that he ‘had the fullest and most unequivocal proof that I possessed the confidence of her Majesty. It appeared to me that there never was a period when the demonstration of that confidence was more absolutely necessary for a Minister’. In Peel’s view, this was especially important, given that he would have attempted to govern as a minority administration, rather than dissolving Parliament as had happened in 1835.
