# Sir Robert Peel — Queen Victoria character guide

> Sir Robert Peel in Queen Victoria by Lytton Strachey.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Peel, good Sir Robert

**First appearance:** 0013-iii-lord-melbourne

## Snapshot

The conscientious Tory leader who inherits the premiership and finds himself locked in a stubborn constitutional duel with a teenage queen over her ladies of the bedchamber.

## Who they are

Peel steps forward to form a government and politely asks Victoria to surrender the female members of her household, a request that detonates her fury and stalls the whole formation of the ministry. Pompous, uneasy, and immovable, he pleads the constitution and Queens Regnant while the Queen refuses to yield a single Lady. His standoff with her matters because it forces the young monarch to learn, painfully, where the limits of her personal will meet the machinery of parliamentary government.

## In the story

### [Lord Melbourne](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/iii-lord-melbourne)

Tory leader attempting to form a government, clashing with the Queen over the Ladies of the Bedchamber.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/i)

Impressed by Victoria's bearing at her first Council.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/ii)

Listed among the statesmen who respected Stockmar's probity and intelligence.

### [The Bedchamber Crisis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/vii)

Tory leader unable to form a government after Victoria refuses to dismiss her Ladies; depicted as awkward and embarrassed.

### [Marriage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/iv-marriage)

Succeeds Melbourne as Prime Minister, receives private advice from Melbourne on winning the Queen's favor, and later earns Victoria's 'extreme admiration' for his chivalrous conduct.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/ii)

Opposes Victoria's wishes regarding Albert's settlement, voting for the smaller sum of £30,000.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/iii)

Becomes Prime Minister after the Whig resignation; Melbourne advises Albert to use this change to assert himself.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/v)

Sympathizes with Albert, urges him into public life, and earns Victoria's deep respect and attachment.

### [The Victorian Age in Full Swing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/vi)

Advised the purchase of the Osborne estate.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/vii)

Provides powerful support for the Exhibition scheme.

### [VIII: Gladstone and Lord Beaconsfield](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/viii-gladstone-and-lord-beaconsfield)

Peel is mentioned as Gladstone's revered mentor and a victim of Disraeli's attacks.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/i)

Referenced as the revered mentor of Gladstone and the victim of Disraeli's earlier attacks.

### [The Apotheosis of Victoria](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/iv)

Referenced in the Bedchamber crisis, where Victoria broke off negotiations with him.

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/chapters/endnotes)

Mentioned in political and biographical references.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/characters/sir_robert_peel
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/queen_victoria_se/characters