Kensington System
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The Kensington System was a strict and elaborate set of rules designed by
Application
The System was aimed at rendering the young Princess Victoria weak and dependent and thus unlikely to adhere to her other relatives in the
It contained an element of surveillance: she wasn't allowed to sleep alone, play with other girls or even walk downstairs without having someone holding her hand. And each day she had to write in her 'Behaviour Book' how well – or badly – she'd behaved[2]
Victoria had only two playmates during her adolescence: her half-sister, Princess Feodora of Leiningen, and Conroy's daughter, Victoire. Only occasional trips were made outside the palace grounds; two visits to Claremont to see her uncle Leopold I of Belgium greatly influenced Victoria's opinion on the System.[3] When it became clear that Victoria would inherit the throne, her keepers tried to induce Victoria to appoint Conroy her personal secretary and treasurer via a long series of threats and browbeating, to no avail.[citation needed]
Victoria's education began at the age of five. Her first teacher,
The system was endorsed by Queen Victoria's half-brother,
Aftermath
The System was an utter failure and backfired spectacularly. Victoria grew to hate her mother, Conroy, and her mother's lady-in-waiting (Lady Flora Hastings) over the system. Her first two requests, upon her accession four weeks after her 18th birthday (she received the delegation informing her of the king's death by herself), were that she should be allowed an hour by herself, which the System had never permitted, and that her bed should be removed from her mother's room, which presaged the cessation of her mother's influence, and, through her mother, that of Conroy.[6] Among Victoria's first acts upon her accession to the throne at the age of 18 was to ban Conroy from her apartments permanently.
After a brief engagement, Victoria married
References
- ISBN 0-316-11459-6.
- ^ "Queen Victoria's unhappy childhood: life under the 'Kensington System'". HistoryExtra. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
- ^ , Williams, Kate. Becoming Queen Victoria: The Tragic Death of Princess Charlotte and the Unexpected Rise of Britain's Greatest Monarch. New York: Ballantine, 2010. Print.
- ISBN 1-85109-355-9.
- ISBN 1-85109-355-9.
- ^ Professor Kate Williams (12 April 2015). "Queen Victoria: The woman who redefined Britain's monarchy". BBC i-Wonder. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
External links
- "Queen Victoria: the original people's princess" (14 September 2008) The Daily Telegraph