Performance as Politics: Lady Constance Villiers-Stanley and the Responsibilities of a Vice Regal Consort in Canada

Abstract

Constance Villiers-Stanley (1840-1922) is a historical figure largely unknown in Canada today; however, in the late nineteenth century, she lived at the highest levels of Canadian society. During her husband Frederick Stanley’s (1841-1908) time as governor general of Canada, Villiers-Stanley served as vice regal consort and was an important part of the vice regal unit, where each played different yet complimentary roles. Villiers-Stanley’s public role saw her involvement with philanthropic initiatives, social networks in Ottawa, and demonstrations of imperial authority and culture in the Canadian west as well as similar affirmations in spaces of formal politics. In her public-facing endeavours, Villiers-Stanley embodied an idealized version of aristocratic British womanhood that helped reinforce conventional social hierarchies, and gender norms. In her engagements with the people of Canada, Villiers-Stanley utilized condescension, consciously or unconsciously, as a social strategy to bolster perceptions of her elevated status. Limited archival sources in her own voice reveal that Villiers-Stanley actively performed the role of vice regal consort, sometimes contrary to her personal inclinations. Ultimately, this thesis argues that Villiers-Stanley’s role contributed to the maintenance of British social and cultural conventions in Canada. It speaks to the significance of vice regal consorts in the empire, and more broadly, to women’s involvement in spaces deemed formally political.