Melbourne; A Biography of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976. First American Edition. Presumed First Printing. Hardcover. Good/fair. 25 cm, 400, x, [2] pages. Illustrations. Note on Manuscript Sources. Index. DJ worn, soiled, and torn, pencil erasure on front endpaper. Philip Sandeman Ziegler (born 24 December 1929) is a British biographer and historian. He attended Eton College and New College, Oxford, graduating with a degree in Jurisprudence with highest honors before joining the British Foreign Service. In the Foreign Service, he served in Laos, Pretoria and Bogotá, as well as with the Delegation to NATO in Paris. In 1967 he retired from the Foreign Service, and joined the publishers Collins. Originally intending to be a novelist, he began a career as biographer with his life of Talleyrand's lover, the Duchess of Dino. He was editor in chief at Collins from 1979-80. He has written in various journals and newspapers including The Spectator, The Listener, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and History Today. William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC, FRS (15 March 1779 - 24 November 1848), usually addressed as Lord Melbourne, was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary (1830-1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835-1841). He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria, at ages 18-21, in the ways of politics. After Lord Grey resigned as Prime Minister in July 1834, the King was forced to appoint another Whig to replace him, as the Tories were not strong enough to support a government. Melbourne was the man most likely to be both acceptable to the King and hold the Whig party together. Compromise was the key to many of Melbourne's actions. King William IV's opposition to the Whigs' reforming ways led him to dismiss Melbourne in November. Melbourne was the last British prime minister to be dismissed by a monarch. He then gave the Tories under Sir Robert Peel an opportunity to form a government. Peel's failure to win a House of Commons majority in the resulting general election (January 1835) made it impossible for him to govern, and the Whigs returned to power under Melbourne in April 1835. This was the last time a British monarch attempted to appoint a government against a parliamentary majority. When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. He became the young queen's confidential advisor and taught her about British politics and the constitution. Barely eighteen, she was only just breaking free from the domineering influence of her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her mother's adviser, Sir John Conroy. Over the next four years Melbourne trained her in the art of politics and the two became friends. Tutoring Victoria was the climax of Melbourne's career-the prime minister spent four to five hours a day visiting and writing to her, and she responded with enthusiasm and grew in wisdom. Following a vote of no confidence initiated by Conservative MP John Stuart-Wortley, Melbourne's government fell, and he resigned as Prime Minister on 30 August 1841. Even after Melbourne resigned permanently in August 1841, Victoria continued to write to him, but eventually the correspondence ceased as it was seen as inappropriate. It has been observed that Melbourne's role faded as Victoria came to rely on her new husband Prince Albert, and on herself.