In 1882 Tait told Davidson that he hoped to be succeeded either by the Bishop of Winchester, Harold Browne, or the Bishop of Truro, Edward White Benson. Tait did not think it correct to make his preference known to Queen Victoria or the Prime Minister, W. E. Gladstone, but after Tait's death in December 1882 Davidson ensured that the Archbishop's views became known to the Queen. Within days she sent for Davidson and was impressed: she wrote in her diary that she was "much struck ... Mr. Davidson is a man who may be of great use to me". In the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography" Stuart Mews comments that at the age of 34 Davidson quickly became the trusted confidant of the 63-year-old queen. When Benson was chosen to succeed Tait, Victoria asked Davidson's views on who should be the next Bishop of Truro; she also consulted him about a successor to the Dean of Windsor, Gerald Wellesley, who died in 1882 after 28 years in the post.