feb 20, 1839 - Lady Flora Hastings Scandal
Description:
Not long after the Queen's coronation, rumors begin to surface about a certain Lady Flora Hastings, who was a lady-in-waiting to the Queen.
Sometime during 1939, she attended the royal physician Sir James Clark, with pain and swelling in her lower abdomen. Clark assumed she was pregnant, but without an examination, it was impossible to diagnose.
As an unmarried woman, his suspicions were hushed up. However her enemies, a Lady Lehzen, who was a trusted friend and mentor of Queen Victoria, started rumors that she was 'with child'.
Queen Victoria believed the rumors, and Lady Hastings was forced to publicly defend herself.
A later physical examination, proved that Lady Hastings, had a advanced cancerous liver tumor and she died not long after.
After her death, Queen Victoria was subject to a vicious media campaign by Lord Hastings(Lady Flora's brother) and Sir John Conroy(who was part of Queen Victoria's Mothers staff and who was intensely disliked by Victoria).
Added to timeline:
Queen Victoria
Date:
