"The child who might one day be queen offered prospects not only of wealth and status but power, especially if she came to the throne as a minor. Conroy viewed Princess Victoria as a puny, insignificant gosling that someday would lay golden eggs. But the newly minted Sir John made the misogynist’s mistake. He saw Victoria as a key to be turned, not a mind to be won. With the duchess’s acquiescence, all the power of the father was vested in him. The possibility that the curly-haired little creature growing up before his eyes might one day pose a threat to his ambitions seemed ridiculous. Unlike “Dearest Uncle” Leopold, who, on his rare visits to England, went out of his way to earn Victoria’s trust and affection, Conroy worked to break her will. Day in and day out, he snubbed and sneered at her, aiming to destroy her spirit. From 1830 to 1837, the famous Kensington System for educating the Princess Victoria came into full effect." ~WE TWO: VICTORIA & ALBERT: RULERS, PARTNERS, RIVALS by Gillian Gill
