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The Bedchamber crisis occurred on 7 May 1839 after Whig politician William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne declared his intention to resign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after a government bill passed by a very narrow margin of only five votes in the House of Commons. Following a few false moves toward an alternative Tory prime minister and a Conservative government, Lord Melbourne was reinstated until the 1841 election, when the Conservative party took over.
The crisis occurred very early in the reign of Queen Victoria and involved her first change of government. She was partial to Melbourne, and resisted the requests of his rival Robert Peel to add to her household Tory ladies of the bedchamber (ladies-in-waiting) to replace some of the women who were close to the Whig party.