Harriet Phipps

Who was Harriet Phipps?

Harriet Lepel Phipps, VA was a confidential attendant of Queen Victoria.

Harriet was the younger daughter of Sir Charles Beaumont Phipps, a courtier and confidant of the Queen, as Keeper of the Privy Purse. Harriet was appointed Maid of Honour in Ordinary to the Queen on 3 March 1862, and later served as a Woman of the Bedchamber from 1889 until Victoria's death. She was decorated with the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, 4th class.

Phipps was used by the Queen to carry out confidential errands, and had access to many secrets, which she faithfully kept. Her papers were destroyed upon her death. Marie Mallet, a fellow lady of the bedchamber, found Phipps, as a messenger of instructions from Victoria, somewhat awe-inspiring, but "gay and excellent company and always warm-hearted".

Her 1889 portrait, by John Lavery, is now in the collection of the Glasgow Museums.