Victoria: Season 1, Episode 2

1 - 2: Ladies in Waiting

As Melbourne's popularity in the house wanes, the Tories eagerly await their imminent triumph. Most impatient of all is Victoria's wicked uncle Cumberland, who views Melbourne's pending defeat as a chance to prey on Victoria's vulnerability and establish a co-regency with the Duchess of Kent and Conroy.

Victoria is devastated when Melbourne regretfully announces he is stepping down, and even more bewildered that she must ask a complete stranger, Sir Robert Peel, to form a government.

Desperate, Victoria implores Melbourne to return as her Prime Minister and is stumped when he rejects her – Peel is the rightful candidate. Unable to accept this, Victoria concocts a plan that humiliates Peel, leaving him no choice but to refuse to form government.