William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne and her mother's adviser, Sir John Conroy. Over the next four years Melbourne trained her in the art of politics, and the two became friends: Victoria was quoted as saying she considered him like a father (her own had died when she was only eight months old), and Melbourne's son had died at a young age. Melbourne was given a private apartment at Windsor Castle, and unfounded rumours circulated for a time that Victoria would marry Melbourne, 40 years her senior. Tutoring Victoria was the climax of Melbourne's career: the prime minister spent four to five hours a day visiting
William Ward, 3rd Viscount Dudley and Ward John, who served as Foreign Secretary and was created Earl of Dudley in 1827. William Ward, 3rd Viscount Dudley and Ward William Ward, 3rd Viscount Dudley and Ward (21 January 1750 – 25 April 1823) was a British peer and politician. Ward was the son of John Ward, 1st Viscount Dudley and Ward, by his second wife Mary (née Carver). He was elected to the House of Commons for Worcester in 1780, a seat he held until 1788, when he succeeded his half-brother in the viscountcy and entered the House of Lords. He married Julia, daughter of Godfrey Bosvile, in