A lady, then 28 years old and the unmarried daughter
of the First Marquis of Hastings, was given the position of lady-in-waiting
to the future queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, in 1834.
It was three years before Victoria was crowned Queen. Victoria’s mother
employed John Conroy to take care of her and the rest of the family.
He was instrumental in developing the Kensington System.
This plan would leave
the young Victoria subjected to a new set of rules and regulations
designed to make her completely reliant on her mother and Conroy.
Luckily for Victoria she refused any such guidance
however much they sought to convince her.
As one of her first official acts as monarch,
Victoria ordered her mother and Conroy into separate quarters.
But Victoria also developed a strong mistrust
of several of the Kensington Palace staff.
In particular one of her mother’s ladies, and one
that would cause a massive scandal at the time.
Join me now as we look back at the life of Lady Flora Hastings.
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historical stories.
Victoria detested Sir John Conroy, the Comptroller of the Duchess’s household.
She referred to him as a “monster”
and “the devil incarnate,” yet it was rumoured that he was her
mother’s lover.
Flora Hastings was brought into this circle of hatred,
and her job was to be Victoria’s companion.
Her continual presence was intended
to minimise the number of Victoria’s close friends.
Flora made the journey to London from her birthplace in Scotland,
where she had been raised, in January 1839,
escorted by Sir John Conroy.
But even now Flora had been experiencing nausea
and vomiting for several weeks and abdominal pain.
She arrived in London on January 10, and her first order of business
was to meet with Sir James Clark, the court physician
to Queen Victoria and the Duchess of Kent.
He recommended treatments consisting of rhubarb and camphor,
but they were ineffective.
However, Flora shared with her uncle Hamilton Fitzgerald
that “by means of walking and porter I restored a little strength”
and that “when I did so, the swelling receded to a most surprising degree.”
But the “swelling,” however,
was something that the Queen’s ladies had also witnessed.
On February 2, Victoria wrote in her journal
that Flora’s form looked “very suspicious,”
and that both she and Lehzen the queens governess were certain that Flora was “...
with child!” and that Clark was unable to disprove
the suspicion.
Victoria asserted that the reviled Conroy
was the biological father of the made-up child she conceived.
Flora Hastings was caught in the crossfire of Victoria’s early court,
which was rife with infighting and rivalries between various factions.
Yet Flora was not only an exceptional poet and linguist, but she also possessed
a quick wit, with Lehzen often being the subject of her ridicule.
Flora’s portraits depict her as an alluring young lady of slim build.
However, when Victoria ascended to the throne, Lord Melbourne,
the prime minister, referred to her as the ugliest woman he had ever seen,
and Victoria referred to her as “that nasty woman.” In addition,
the Queen and the court were fervent supporters of the Whig government.
One contemporary observer wrote that “a Conservative cat
was not permitted to mew in the precincts of the Palace”
because the Queen and court supported the Whig government.
Although the Hastings family were full of Conservative support.
Being unmarried with a child was taboo back
in those days, yet the rumours continued.
A couple of weeks after first being seen by Clark, he had informed
Flora that due to her swollen stomach, even the Queen’s
ladies were convinced that she must be either “privately married,
or at least ought to be so.” at which point he
urged her to confess.
Flora’s terrified mother described the notion as “this most terrible proposal”
after Clark strenuously told her that there was only one option
that was to satisfy the ladies with her innocence.
This would be to agree to a medical examination.
It was in response to Flora’s firm denial that she had not done anything wrong.
Although distressing news for the queen who by now was feeling the pressure,
but agreed Flora could not return to court unless
and until the event in question was resolved.
Flora had no choice.
Sir James Clark and Sir Charles Clarke the family physician
for the Hastings were the two doctors involved.
Flora’s Swiss maid, who was in tears during the proceedings, was also present.
Duchess of Bedford, who Flora referred to as “my accuser,”
was one of Victoria’s ladies and was also present.
The doctors signed a certificate after the examination stating,
“there are no grounds for assuming pregnancy currently present,
or ever has been.” It was relief for Flora who wrote a letter to her brother,
the Marquis of Hastings, on February 19, she told him “her
honour had been most basely assailed.”
Hastings, suffering from influenza at the time, still rode to London
from his home in Leicestershire and insisted from Melbourne
that he be granted an audience with the Queen.
He was given promises from her that Flora would be treated with “honour
and kindness” and that she would once again be welcome at court,
but she stopped short of providing any other information.
The Hastings family desired an apology to be made public.
In addition, they demanded that the person who started the rumour be identified
and that Sir James Clark
be removed from his position as the physician to the Queen.
None of that materialised as expected.
It was explained to Flora’s brother that if he brought up the issue
in the House of Lords, it would be quashed because it was considered
an assault on the throne.
Regarding the possibility of legal action,
they were informed there were no grounds for it.
Because of this, the Hastings family had only one option left:
to make a plea to the general public.
Flora concluded her heartfelt and poignant letter to her
uncle Hamilton Fitzgerald by saying, “Goodbye, my darling uncle.
I feel sick to my stomach as I send you such a horrible story,
but I wanted you to know a complete truth - and you are free
to tell it to anybody you want, whenever you want.
And he did.
We cannot determine whether
Flora intended for him to continue, but he did forward
her letter to the Examiner, which then published the entire script.
It caused a flood of newsprint to be produced,
with extreme political connotations using both Flora’s
personal anguish and harm done to the Queen.
The argument became a political battle between the Whig party
supporting the Queen against the Tory party for Flora.
It was even suggested that Victoria was the one who circulated the rumours.
The public took their anger to the streets and at royal events, Victoria knew
she had ruffled feathers but this scandal was not about to go away
anytime soon.
In April, the Marchioness
Dowager of Hastings, Flora’s mother, took the unprecedented step
of publishing her contentious letters with Melbourne, to the Morning Post.
Victoria’s outrage led her to rant and rave against
“that wicked, foolish old woman,”
the queen continued to respond in her journal where she wrote
“I wished the editor and the whole of the Hastings family
had been hanged for their infamy.”
On the other hand, Flora was unable to leave the court;
therefore, she was deprived of the chance to relax or heal.
She then experienced
a terrible decline in her weight, and her hair began to fall out.
By June, her condition had deteriorated to the point
where she could not leave her room.
Flora was seen by the Queen just a few days before she passed away,
and the Queen wrote in her journal that Flora appeared to be “as thin
as somebody can be, who is still alive, literally a skeleton.
I told her that I hoped to see her again when she was feeling better,
and in response, she grabbed hold of my hand as though to say,
“I shall not see you again.”
The death of Flora occurred
on July 5, 1839, around two o’clock in the morning.
She was just 33 years old.
Because the sentiments around this affair were so intense,
in the final days of her life, Flora herself insisted on a post-mortem
and for the results of it to be published in every detail.
Flora wanted the world to know she was innocent, and the results
of the post mortem vindicated her last appeal.
Shortly after, Conroy and Flora’s brother began a smear
campaign against Queen Victoria and her doctors for spreading the rumours,
which would ultimately damage the queen’s popularity.
However the rumour which had begun with Lehzen and the Duchess of Bedford
confiding in Conroy.
Was a just a ruse
to attempt to portray the young queen as one who required leadership.
and that only he could provide this.
Victoria’s popularity rose again in 1840 after her marriage to Prince Albert
and the birth of their first child, Princess Victoria.
Flora’s brother, who felt helpless about the situation,
ended up publishing a pamphlet that included all relevant documents.
It reached an incredible seven editions in just a span of six months.
It is difficult to conceive a situation that would bring more shame
to an unwed aristocratic woman and her family.
Yet the results of the autopsy revealed the reality, which was that
Flora had been battling a liver condition before her passing.
As for Queen Victoria she recalled only four incidents during her
lengthy reign that gave her recurring nightmares.
The passing of Prince Albert being one, but quite possibly
a more horrific addition to her sleepless nights, was that
of Lady Flora Hastings.