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William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

(1779-1848), Prime Minister

Early Victorian Portraits Catalogue Entry

Sitter associated with 159 portraits
Melbourne was a Whig MP from 1806, Irish Secretary under Canning and Home Secretary under Lord Grey, 1830-34. After Grey's resignation he was appointed Prime Minister, a position he held twice (1834, 1835-41). He married the poet Lady Caroline Lamb in 1805 but they separated in 1825 following her infamous affair with the Romantic poet Lord Byron. Melbourne advised the young Queen Victoria and she became very devoted to him, to the extent that she was criticised for too partisan an approach to political issues, and rumours of a romantic attachment between them proliferated in the early days of her reign.

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