Editing Randall Davidson (section)

==Dean==
[[File:St. Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle (2).jpg|thumb|alt=exterior of ornate Gothic church building|St George's Chapel, Windsor]]
At Windsor, Davidson served as Dean – and also as the Queen's private chaplain – for six years. She became increasingly attached to him; they developed closer personal relations after the death of her youngest son, [[Leopold, Duke of Albany]], in March 1884. That, and other private tribulations, led her to turn to Davidson for religious consolation and thus, in Bell's words, "to give him more and more of her confidence in a quite exceptional way".<ref name=dnb>Bell, George. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780192683120.001.0001/odnb-9780192683120-e-32733 "Davidson, Randall Thomas, Baron Davidson of Lambeth (1848–1930)], ''Dictionary of National Biography'', Macmillan, 1937 and Oxford University Press, 2004. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209190457/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780192683120.001.0001/odnb-9780192683120-e-32733 |date=9 December 2019 }}. Retrieved 9 December 2019 {{ODNBsub}}</ref> The Queen consulted Davidson about all important ecclesiastical appointments from 1883 to 1901.<ref name=dnb/> In other matters his advice was not always to her taste, and tact was needed to persuade her to change her mind. He wrote in his diary, "There is a good deal more difficulty in dealing with a spoilt child of sixty or seventy than with a spoilt child of six or seven",<ref>''Quoted'' in Roberts, p. 318</ref> but he later said, "my belief is that she liked and trusted best those who occasionally incurred her wrath, provided that she had reason to think their motives good".<ref name=dnb/> His biographers cite his tactful but resolute counsel that Victoria would be imprudent to publish another volume of her ''[[Queen Victoria's journals|Leaves from the Journal of a Life in the Highlands]]''.{{refn|Davidson's strongly held view – expressed with the utmost tact – was that the lower classes made mock of the Queen for her accounts of her holidays at [[Balmoral Castle|Balmoral]], and particularly for her relationship with her [[ghillie]], [[John Brown (servant)|John Brown]], about which, he thought, the less said the better.<ref>Bell (Volume I), pp. 93–94; and Hughes, p. 17</ref>|group=n}} She reluctantly followed his advice.<ref>Bell (Volume I), p. 95; and Hughes, p. 17</ref>

As well as advising the Queen, Davidson remained a key adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Benson wrote to him nearly every day, and particularly depended on him in 1888–1890 during the trial of [[Edward King (bishop of Lincoln)|Edward King]], the high-church [[Bishop of Lincoln]], on a charge of unlawful ritualistic practices.<ref name=dnb/>{{refn|The charges against the Bishop were that he had contravened the prescriptions of the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' by what low-church critics felt were unacceptably high-church practices, including celebrating [[Holy Communion]] facing the [[altar]] rather than facing the congregation, having lighted candles on the altar, and making the [[Sign of the cross#Liturgical|sign of the cross]] at both absolution and blessing. The charges were mostly dismissed, although King was bidden to refrain, ''inter alia'', from making the sign of the cross.<ref>Newton, John A. [https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34319 "King, Edward (1829–1910), bishop of Lincoln"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2010. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224224047/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-34319 |date=24 December 2019 }}. Retrieved 24 December 2019 {{ODNBsub}}</ref>|group=n}} Davidson helped to influence church and public opinion by writing in ''[[The Times]]''; he also helped Benson by liaising with [[Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax|Lord Halifax]], a prominent [[Anglo-Catholic]] layman.<ref name=odnb/> While Dean of Windsor, Davidson collaborated with Canon [[William Benham (priest)|William Benham]] in writing a two-volume biography of Tait, which was published in 1891.<ref>"The Times Column of New Books and New Editions", ''The Times'', 15 June 1891, p. 12</ref>