Sir John Ponsonby Conroy, 1st Baronet, KCH was a British Army officer who served as comptroller to the Duchess of Kent and her young daughter, Princess Victoria, the future Queen of the United Kingdom.
40 Facts About John Conroy
2.
John Conroy was immediately expelled from Victoria's household, though he remained in the Duchess of Kent's service for several more years.
3.
John Conroy was one of six children born to John Conroy, an Irish barrister from County Roscommon, and his wife Margaret Wilson.
4.
In 1805, John Conroy enrolled in the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
5.
John Conroy made his career during the Napoleonic Wars, though his ability to avoid battle attracted disdain from other officers.
6.
John Conroy did not participate in the Peninsular War or the Waterloo Campaign.
7.
Elizabeth was the daughter of Colonel Benjamin Fisher and John Conroy served under him in Ireland and England while performing various administrative duties.
8.
John Conroy was promoted to Second Captain on 13 March 1811 and appointed adjutant in the Corps of Artillery Drivers on 11 March 1817.
9.
John Conroy was appointed as an equerry in 1817, shortly before the Duke's marriage to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
10.
An efficient organiser, John Conroy's planning ensured the Duke and Duchess' speedy return to England in time for the birth of their first child.
11.
John Conroy was named an executor of the Duke's will, though he was unsuccessful in persuading the dying man to name him Victoria's guardian.
12.
Aware that he needed to find another source of revenue quickly, John Conroy offered his services as comptroller to the now-widowed Duchess of Kent and her infant daughter.
13.
John Conroy retired from military service on half-pay in 1822.
14.
The intention was for the Duchess to be appointed regent upon Victoria's ascension and for John Conroy to be created Victoria's private secretary and given a peerage.
15.
Aware of the reasons behind King George IV's unpopularity, John Conroy promoted a public image of the Duchess that was pure, modest and decorous, while at the same time increasing her paranoia against the British royal family, particularly the Duke of Cumberland.
16.
Princess Victoria soon came to hate John Conroy who bullied and insulted her, mocking her economical habits.
17.
Regardless of his claims of grandeur, John Conroy belonged to the middle class and recognised the growing power of this group within British society.
18.
John Conroy effectively barred Victoria from anyone other than the Duchess or his relatives and the princess was prevented from becoming close to her extended family.
19.
Early in his stay at Kensington Palace, John Conroy made an effort to become close to Princess Sophia, an elderly sister of George IV who resided at the palace.
20.
Sophia is described by Christopher Hibbert as an "impressionable and mentally unstable woman", and John Conroy had little difficulty in persuading her to let him take control of her finances.
21.
John Conroy complained that the princess should not be surrounded by commoners, leading King George IV to appoint John Conroy a Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Order and a Knight Bachelor that year.
22.
The Duchess and John Conroy continued to be unpopular with the royal family and, in 1829, the Duke of Cumberland spread rumours that they were lovers in an attempt to discredit them.
23.
The Duke of Clarence became King William IV in 1830, by which point John Conroy felt very confident of his position; his control of the household was secure.
24.
The new king and queen attempted to gain custody of their niece, but John Conroy quickly replied that Victoria could not be "tainted" by the moral atmosphere at court.
25.
John Conroy solidified the stance that mother and daughter could not be separated, and continued to promote the Duchess' virtue as a fit regent.
26.
On one trip John Conroy was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Oxford.
27.
Victoria was forbidden to be alone with her beloved Lehzen; either the Duchess's ally Lady Flora Hastings or a John Conroy sister were required to accompany her.
28.
In 1842, John Conroy settled at his family home in Arborfield Hall near Reading, Berkshire and became a gentleman farmer, winning prizes for his pig breeding.
29.
John Conroy founded the Montgomery Regiment of Militia in 1849.
30.
John Conroy was moved to admit that Conroy had swindled her while at the same time hurting her relationship with Victoria for his own benefit.
31.
Princess Sophia's substantial income, provided from the civil list, had allowed John Conroy to enjoy a wealthy lifestyle.
32.
The Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Gloucester had a lawyer write to John Conroy demanding that he account for the rest of their sister Sophia's funds, but John Conroy simply ignored it.
33.
Conroy goes not to Court, the reason's plainKing John has played his part and ceased to reign.
34.
Later, as an aged Queen, Victoria was aghast to discover that many people did indeed believe that her mother and John Conroy were intimate and stated that the Duchess' piety would have prevented this.
35.
John Conroy cites the rarity of genetic mutations as evidence, as well as the "remarkable" circumstances surrounding Victoria's conception.
36.
Alan Rushton adds that no one in the household of the newly married Duchess of Kent, including John Conroy, is known to have had haemophilia, and that her probable awareness of the scandals surrounding the behaviour of Caroline of Brunswick and Caroline Matilda of Great Britain would have deterred her from seeking an affair elsewhere.
37.
John Conroy has been portrayed numerous times in film and television.
38.
John Conroy appears in numerous historical fiction novels about Queen Victoria.
39.
John Conroy was descended from the O Maolconaire family of Elphin, County Roscommon.
40.
John Conroy was descended from Maoilin O Maolchonaire who was the last recognised Chief of the Sept.