Category: Court Conspiracies

• The Kensington System

  This theory held that Victoria, Duchess of Kent, and Sir John Conroy were deliberately keeping the young Princess Victoria in an artificial world of dependency, isolation, and surveillance so they could rule through her as a puppet if she reached the throne young. The historical record clearly shows that an elaborate upbringing regime later called the “Kensington System” did exist, that it was designed by the Duchess and Conroy, and that it restricted Victoria’s independence in extreme ways. What remains more interpretive is whether the full intention was simple overprotection, personal domination, or an outright regency plot. Victoria herself believed it had been designed to break her will and keep her dependent.