In all the medieval monarchies of western Europe the general system of government sprang from, and centred in, the royal household. The sovereign's domestics were his officers of state, and the leading dignitaries of the palace were the principal administrators of the kingdom. The royal household itself had, in its turn, grown out of an earlier and more primitive and powerful of the king's thegns were his dishthegn, his bowerthegn, and his horsethegn or staller. In Normandy at the time of the Conquest a similar arrangement, imitated from the French court, had long been established, and the Norman dukes, like their overlords the kings of France, had their seneschal or steward, their chamberlain and their constable. After the Conquest the ducal household of Normandy was reproduced in the royal household of England; and since, in obedience to the spirit of feudalism, the great offices of the first had been made hereditary, the great offices of the second were made hereditary also, and were thenceforth held by the grantees and their descendants as holder of tenure in grand serjeanty of the crown. Thegn or Thane, is an Anglo-Saxon word (þeg(e)n) meaning an attendant, servant, retainer or official. ... Defining feudalism is difficult because there is no generally accepted agreement on what it means. ... Serjeanty. ...

The consequence was that they passed out of immediate relation to the practical conduct of affairs either in both state and court or in the one or the other of them. The steward and Lord High Chamberlain of England were superseded in their political functions by the Justiciar and Treasurer of England, and in their domestic functions by the Lord Steward and Lord Chamberlain of the household. The marshal of England took the place of the constable of England in the royal palace, and was associated with him in the command of the royal armies. The Lord Great Chamberlain of England is the sixth of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Privy Seal and above the Lord High Constable. ... In the medieval England and Scotland, a justiciar was an important legal and political figure. ... The Lord High Treasurer bears a white staff as his symbol of office. ... almLord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, an important official of the Royal Household. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom, and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the great offices of state. ...

In due course, however, the marshalship as well as the constableship became hereditary, and, although the Constable and Earl Marshal of England retained their military authority until a comparatively late period, the duties they had successively performed about the palace had been long before transferred to the master of the horse. In these circumstances the holders of the original great offices of state and the household ceased to attend the court except on occasions of extraordinary ceremony, and their representatives either by inheritance or by special appointment have ever since continued to appear at coronations and some other public solemnities, such as the State Opening of Parliament or trials by the House of Lords. The Lord High Constable of England is the seventh of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Great Chamberlain and above the Earl Marshal. ... Earl Marschal (or Marischal) is an ancient chivalric title used separately in England, Scotland and Ireland. ... A formal state (and normally religious) ceremony at which a person is announced and installed as King or Queen. ... Sergeant-at-arms Gus Cloutier holding the ceremonial mace to open a sitting of the 38th Canadian parliament with Prime Minister Paul Martin in background (10/4/04) In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event held usually in October or November that marks the... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the British House of Lords. ...

The materials available for a history of the English royal household are somewhat scanty and obscure. The earliest record relating to it is of the reign of Henry II and is contained in the Black Book of the Exchequer. It enumerates the various inmates of the king's palace and the daily allowances made to them at the period at which it was compiled. Hence it affords valuable evidence of the antiquity and relative importance of the court offices to which it refers, notwithstanding that it is silent as to the functions and formal subordination of the persons who filled them. In addition to this record we have series of far later, but for the most part equally meagre, documents bearing more or less directly on the constitution of the royal household, and extending, with long intervals, from the reign of Edward III to the reign of William and Mary. Among them, however, are what are known as the Black Book of the Household and the Statutes of Eltham, the first compiled in the reign of Edward IV and the second in the reign of Henry VIII, from which a good deal of detailed information may be gathered concerning the arrangements of the court in the 15th and 16th centuries. Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189) ruled as Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, and as King of England (1154–1189) and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland, eastern Ireland, and western France. ... The Exchequer was that part of the government responsible for the management and collection of the royal revenues of the King of England. ... Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377) was one of the most successful English kings of medieval times. ... The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the joint sovereignty over the Kingdoms of England and Scotland of King William III and his wife Queen Mary II. Their joint reign began in February, 1689, when they were called to the throne by Parliament, replacing James II, who was deemed... Edward IV (April 28, 1442 – April 9, 1483) was King of England from March 4, 1461 to April 9, 1483, with a break of a few months in the period 1470-1471. ... Jump to: navigation, search Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England and Lord of Ireland (later King of Ireland) from 22 April 1509 until his death. ...

The Statutes of Eltham were meant for the practical guidance merely of those who were responsible for the good order and the sufficient supply of the sovereign's household at the time they were issued. The great officers of state and the household whom we have particularly mentioned do not of course exhaust the catalogue of them. We have named those only whose representatives are still dignitaries of the court and functionaries of the palace. If the reader consults Hallam (Middle Ages, i. 181 seq.), Freeman (Norman Conquest, i. 91 seq., and v. 426 seq.) and Stubbs (Const. Hist. i. 343, seq.), he will be able himself to fill in the details of the outline we have given above. Henry Hallam (July 9, 1777 - January 21, 1859) was an English historian. ... Edward Augustus Freeman (August 2, 1823 - March 16, 1892) was an English historian. ... William Stubbs (June 21, 1825 - April 22, 1901) was an English historian and Bishop of Oxford. ...

But the Black Book of the Household, besides being a sort of treatise on princely magnificence generally, professes to be based on the regulations established for the governance of the court by Edward III, who, it affirms, was "the first setter of certeynties among his domesticall meyne, upon a grounded rule" and whose palace it describes as "the house of very policie and flowre of England"; and it may therefore possibly, and even probably, take us back to a period much more remote than that at which it was actually put together.

Various orders, returns and accounts of the reigns of Elizabeth, James I, Charles I, Charles II, and William and Mary throw considerable light on the organization of particular sections of the royal household in times nearer to our own. Moreover, there were several parliamentary inquiries into the expenses of the royal household in connexion with the settlement or reform of the civil list during the reigns of George III, George IV and William IV. But they add little or nothing to our knowledge of the subject in what was then its historical as distinguished from its contemporary aspects. So much, indeed, is this the case that, on the accession of Queen Victoria, Chamberlayne's Present State of England, which contains a catalogue of the officials at the court of Queen Anne, was described by Lord Melbourne the prime minister as the "only authority" which the advisers of the crown could find for their assistance in determining the appropriate constitution and dimensions of the domestic establishment of a queen regnant. Jump to: navigation, search Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. ... James VI of Scots and James I of England and Ireland (Charles James) (19 June 1566–27 March 1625) ruled England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. ... Charles I (19 November 1600–30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625, until his death. ... Charles II (29 May 1630–6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, Ireland from 30 January 1649 (retrospectively de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ... A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government. ... George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. ... George IV (George Augustus Frederick) (12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Hanover from 29 January 1820. ... William IV ( William Henry )( 21 August 1765–20 June 1837 ) was King of the United Kingdom and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. ... Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819–22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. ... Anne ( 6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714 ) became Queen of England, Queen of Scotland and Queen of Ireland on 8 March 1702. ... Arms of Lord Melbourne The Right Honourable William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC (15 March 1779–24 November 1848) was a British Whig statesman who served as home secretary (1830-1834) and prime minister (1834 and 1835-1841) of Britain, and mentor of Queen Victoria. ...

In its main outlines the existing organization of the royal household is essentially the same as it was under the Tudors or the Plantagenets. It is now, as it was then, divided into three principal departments, at the head of which are severally the lord steward, the lord chamberlain and the master of the horse, and the respective provinces of which may be generally described as "below stairs," "above stairs" and "out of doors." The duties of these officials, and the various officers under their charge are dealt with in the articles under those headings. When the reigning sovereign is a queen, the royal household is in some other respects rather differently arranged from that of a king and a queen consort.

When there is a king and a queen consort there is a separate establishment "above stairs" and "out of doors" for the queen consort. She has a Lord Chamberlain's department of her own, and all the ladies of the court from the Mistress of the Robes to the Maids of Honour are in her service. At the commencement of the reign of Queen Victoria the two establishments were combined, and on the whole considerably reduced. On the accession of Edward VII the civil list was again reconstituted; and while the household of the king and his consort became larger than during the previous reign, there was a tendency towards increased efficiency by abolishing certain offices which were either redundant or unnecessary. Jump to: navigation, search The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom, and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the great offices of state. ... The Mistress of the Robes is the senior lady of the British Royal Household. ... The Maid of Honor (British English: bridesmaid) attends the bride at a wedding or marriage ceremony. ... Edward VII King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India His Majesty King Edward VII (Albert Edward) (9 November 1841–6 May 1910) was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ... A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government. ...

The Royal Household in Scotland

The Great Officers of the Royal Household are:

1. The Lord High Constable
2. The Master of the Household
3. The Keeper of Holyroodhouse
4. The Armour-Bearer
5. The Bearer of the Royal Banner
6. The Bearer of the National Flag of Scotland
7. Lord Justice General
8. Great Steward of Scotland

The Royal Household in Scotland also includes a number of other hereditary and non-hereditary offices, now including The Master Carver, Hereditary Keepers of Palaces and Castles, the Lord Lyon and his heralds and pursuivants, the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, the Queen's Bodyguard, the Dean of the Thistle, the Dean of the Chapel Royal, chaplains, physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, the Historiographer Royal, the Botanist, the Painter and Limner, the Sculptor and the Astronomer Royal for Scotland. Edward, who served under Alexander I and David I is called chief of Davids knights (princeps militae), but the exact nature of the Constables military role in the 12th century is unclear. ... The office of Master of the Household is one of the Great Offices of the Royal Household in Scotland. ... Holyrood Palace The Palace of Holyroodhouse, more commonly known as Holyrood Palace, originally founded as a monastery by David I of Scotland in 1128, has served as the principal residence of the Kings and Queens of Scotland since the 15th century. ... James IV granted the office of Armour-Bearer and Squire of HM Body to Sir Alexander Seton of Tullibody. ... In 1298 Alexander Scrymgeour was granted the office of Constable of Dundee for the service of carrying the royal banner in the army of Scotland, and in 1324 Robert I granted Alexanders son, Nicholas Scrymgeour, and his heirs the heritable office of Banner-Bearer. ... By charter of novodamus of 1676, later ratified by the Scottish Parliament, Charles II granted Charles Maitland the office of bearing our insignia within our said realm of Scotland. Maitlands descendant, James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale, matriculated arms in the character of Hereditary Standard Bearer of Scotland. ... The Lord Justice General of Scotland is head of the High Court of Justiciary, Lord President of the Court of Session and head of the judiciary in Scotland. ... The position of Lord High Steward of England, not to be confused with the Lord Steward, a court functionary, is the first of the Great Officers of State. ... The Master Carver is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. ... The Scottish Royal Household includes the Hereditary Keepers of various palaces and castles, as follows- Palace of Holyroodhouse - the Duke of Hamilton Falkland Palace - Ninian Crichton-Stuart Stirling Castle - the Earl of Mar and Kellie Dunstaffnage Castle - the Duke of Argyll Dunconnel Castle - formerly Sir Fitzroy Maclean The Keeper of... Arms of the Office of the Lord Lyon The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the head of Lyon Court, is the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry in that kingdom, issuing new grants of arms, and serving as the judge of the oldest Heraldic court in the world that... A herald was originally a messenger sent by a king or nobleman to convey a message or proclamation. ... A Pursuivant is a minor herald. ... Edinburgh Castle and NorLoch, around 1780 by Alexander Nasmyth Edinburgh Castle, an ancient stronghold on the Castle Rock in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, has been in use by assorted military forces since prehistoric times and only transferred from the Ministry of Defence recently. ... The Royal Company of Archers is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereigns Bodyguard in Scotland, a role it has performed since 1822 and the reign of King George IV, when the company provided a personal bodyguard to the King on his visit to Scotland. ... James VII ordained the modern Order. ... The Dean of the Chapel Royal is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. ... The Historiographer Royal is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. ... Her Majestys Botanist is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. ... The Painter and Limner is a member of the Royal Household in Scotland. ... The Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. ... Astronomer Royal for Scotland was originally (1818) the title of the director of the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, but since 1995 it has simply been an honorary title. ...

The Royal Household of the United Kingdom today

As presently arranged, the Royal Household is coordinated by the Lord Chamberlain, and organised into a number of functionally separate units. Jump to: navigation, search The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom, and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the great offices of state. ...

The Private Secretary to the Sovereign is head of one of the operational divisions of the Royal Household. Others are headed by the Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the Queen, the Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, the Crown Equerry, the Director of the Royal Collection, and the Master of the Household. Control is exercised by the part-time Lord Chamberlain, though the Master of the Horse is nominally in charge of the Royal Mews - the responsibility of the Crown Equerry - and the Lord Steward responsible for the Master of the Household's Department. Other units of the Royal Household include the Royal Almonry, the Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps, the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, and the Ecclesiastical Household and Medical Household. In some respects, however, these are coordinated by the Private Secretary, who has direct control of the Press Office, the Queen's Archives, and the office of the Defence Services Secretary. The senior operational member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, as distinct from the Great Officers of the Household, is the Private Secretary. ... The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the Queen is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the Queen is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... A comptroller may refer to a royal-household official who examines and supervises expenditures, or a public official who audits government accounts and sometimes certifies expenditures. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom, and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the great offices of state. ... The operational head of the Royal Mews of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... The Royal Collection Department is an organisation tasked with the cataloguing, conservation, cleaning, restoration and display of the books, pictures, sculptures and other works of art collected by the British royal family. ... The Master of the Household is the operational head of the below stairs elements of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom, and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the great offices of state. ... The Master of the Horse was (and in some cases, is) a historical position of varying importance in several European nations. ... The Royal Mews is the mews (stables and in recent times also the garage) of the British Royal Family in London. ... The operational head of the Royal Mews of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... almLord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household, in England, an important official of the Royal Household. ... The Master of the Household is the operational head of the below stairs elements of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... A small office within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, headed by the Lord High Almoner, an office dating from 1103. ... Her Majestys Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps is a senior member of Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... This is a small office within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom responsible for the administration of Orders of Chivalry and some aspects of honours in general. ... This is a part of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... Part of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... The Royal Archives, also known as the Queens Archives, are a division of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... The Defence Services Secretary is a senior member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ...

Technically members of the Household, the offices of Treasurer of the Household, Comptroller of the Household and Vice-Chamberlain of the Household are held by senior government whips in the House of Commons. In the House of Lords, the Government Chief Whip is usually appointed Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms and the Deputy Chief Whip as Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, with junior whips appointed as Lords-in-Waiting or Baronesses-in-Waiting. The position of Treasurer of the Household is theoretically held by a household official of the British monarch, under control of the Lord Stewards Department, but is, in fact, a political office held by one of the governments majority whips. ... The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the English royal household, currently the second-ranking member of the Lord Stewards department, and often a cabinet member. ... A junior whip in the House of Commons and an officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... In politics, a whip is a member of a political party in a legislature whose task is to ensure that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires. ... The Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen_at_Arms is a UK government post usually held by the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords. ... The Captain of the Queens Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard is presently a UK government post usually held by the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords. ... In politics, a whip is a member of a political party in a legislature whose task is to ensure that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires. ...

Certain independent, and normally honoric, posts include Master of the Queen's Music, Poet Laureate, and Astronomer Royal. The Queen's Bargemaster, Warden of the Swans, and Marker of the Swans, perform more prosaic and less celebrated functions. Master of the Queens Music (or Master of the Kings Music) is a prestigious post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events. ... Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... The Queens Bargemaster is a subordinate officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. ... A new office in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, created in 1993 when the ancient post of Keeper of the Queens Swans (which dated from the thirteenth century) was divided into two new posts. ... A new office in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, created in 1993 when the ancient post of Keeper of the Queens Swans (which dated from the thirteenth century) was divided into two new posts. ...

The separate Royal Household in Scotland, noted above, continues to exist.

The royal residences (see List of British Royal Residences) in current use are run by the Royal Household directly from the grant-in-aid provided by Parliament, or are privately owned and maintained. A number of older royal residences are run by the Historic Royal Palaces Agency, which is self-funding. This is a list of residences occupied by the British Royal family, noting the seasons of the year they are traditionally occupied. ... Funds granted by Parliament for specific purposes and allocated to specific government departments or agencies. ... An aerial view of Parliament of India at New Delhi. ... Historic Royal Palaces is a public body created in 1989 to manage the UKs unoccupied royal palaces. ...

The Royal Households of Europe

The royal households of such of the continental monarchies of Europe as have had a continuous history from medieval times resemble in general outlines that described above. There are, common to many, certain great offices, which have become, in course of time, merely titular and sometimes hereditary. In most cases, as the name of the office would suggest, they were held by those who discharged personal functions about the sovereign. Gradually, in ways or for reasons which might vary in each individual case, the office alone survived, the duties either ceasing to be necessary, or being transferred to officers of less exalted station and permanently attached to the sovereign's household. For example, in Prussia, there were certain great titular officers, such as the Oberstmarschall (great chamberlain); the Oberstjagermeister (grand master of the hunt); the Oberstschenk (grand cup-bearer) and the Obersttruchsess (grand carver), while, at the same time, there are also departments which correspond, to a great extent--both as to offices and their duties--to those of the household of the English sovereigns. This is a feature which must necessarily be reproduced in any monarchical country, whatever the date of its foundation, to a more or less limited extent, and varying in its constitution with the needs or customs of the particular countries. The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad exclave of Russia and...

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...