Free We Two: Victoria and Albert by Gillian Gill

uncle Leopold’s departure for Brussels and the simultaneous disappearance of Stockmar to Coburg were a disaster for her. She was now left to the tender mercies of her mother’s right-hand man, the newly minted baronet of the Guelphic Order of Hanover, Sir John Conroy.

     
    JOHN CONROY WAS a career adventurer, expert manipulator, and domestic martinet. An Irishman born in Wales, he had small means, some ability, and mighty ambition. He believed he could trace his ancestry back to the ancient kings of Ireland.
    He made his career in the British army during the Napoleonic wars but, to the disdain of fellow officers, steered clear of battles. Conroy moved up the ranks by marrying Elizabeth Fisher, the tall, handsome, vacuous daughter of his superior officer, Major General Fisher, whom he served in various administrative capacities in Ireland and England. When General Fisher died suddenly in 1814, Conroy entered the Duke of Kent’s household through the good offices of Bishop Fisher, his wife’s uncle, who had been Kent’s tutor. This seemed like a step up. Though the duke was not known for paying the members of his household, he promised Conroy advancement in his military career. As it turned out, the Duke of Kent was the last man to get favors out of the army bureaucracy at Whitehall, and when he died, Conroy was still a captain. With a tiny Irish estate and a minor civil servant’s sinecure on which to keep a wife, a mother-in-law, and a growing family, Conroy needed to find a new source of revenue fast.
    Conroy was with the Kent family in the Devon cottage when the duke died. Named an executor to the duke’s will, he at once established himself as a useful man, devoted to the interests of the duchess. Victoire of Saxe-Coburg had always relied on men to run her life for her. When EmichCharles of Leiningen, her first husband, died, she quickly fell under the control of Leiningen’s steward, Herr Schindler. Now she came under Conroy’s dominance, leaning on his strong right arm, weeping on his manly shoulder, and allowing him to worry about the money for her.
    Conroy was especially valuable in the duchess’s German-speaking household in the early days because he was a native speaker of English. Hitherto the duchess had resisted all efforts to teach her the language, but Conroy succeeded where the Duke of Kent and Prince Leopold had failed. Though always happier in German and French, the Duchess of Kent could henceforth pass muster at dinner parties and court ceremonies in her adopted country.
    The Duchess of Kent brought Conroy with her to Kensington Palace. There he unearthed a gold mine in the shape of King George IV’s aging spinster sister, Princess Sophia. This lady, once beautiful and full of longing, had had a disastrous liaison with one of her father’s less prepossessing courtiers, which resulted in the birth of an illegitimate son. This secret shame prevented Sophia from ever marrying, and her son, once he came to adulthood, was a constant thorn in her side. John Conroy charmed Princess Sophia and won her complete confidence. He took over control of her affairs, had no trouble facing down the importunate son, and made Sophia a regular part of the Duchess of Kent’s social circle. In return for Conroy’s gallant company and filial care, Sophia became Conroy’s spy, reporting in detail on what was said and done at Kensington Palace in his absence and at the Court of St. James’s, where she had access to the private society of her brother kings, George IV and William IV. She also gave him money and estates that enabled Conroy to live like a rich man.
    By the time Leopold was installed in Belgium, Conroy and his family, though maintaining an agreeable suburban London residence, lived to all intents and purposes at nearby Kensington Palace, and traveled with the duchess as part of her household. Conroy served as the duchess’s comptroller, but he was also her secretary and interpreter, her public relations