The Royal Households of the United Kingdom are the collective departments that support members of the British royal family. The Royal Household (singular) supports the Sovereign. Other members of the royal family who undertake public duties have separate households; they vary considerably in size, from the medium-sized household that supports the Prince and Princess of Wales to those supporting junior working royals (with just a handful of members).
In addition to the royal officials and support staff, the sovereign's own household incorporates representatives of other estates of the realm, including the government, the military, and the church. Government whips, defence chiefs, clergy, scientists, musicians, poets, and artists hold honorary positions within the Royal Household. In this way, the Royal Household may be seen as having a symbolic, as well as a practical, function: exemplifying the monarchy's close relationship with other parts of the constitution and of national life.
The offices of the Royal Household are some of the oldest administrative entities in the UK, from which over time the other principal offices of State emerged: for example, HM Treasury was, in its pre-conquest origins, a strong-box kept for safety in the king's bedchamber, where it was overseen by one of the chamberlains (whose role would later evolve into the office of Lord High Treasurer). Parts of the Royal Household continued to play a central role in the government of the country up until the 1530s, and the four Great Officers of the Household routinely had a seat in the Cabinet until the mid-18th century.
Terminology The royal household refers to the personnel providing domestic service to the monarch. Historically, the royal court included the household in addition to long-term and short-term guests of the monarch, referred to as courtiers. The royal court of the United Kingdom is officially named the Court of St James's because St. James's Palace is the monarch's official residence. No monarch has lived at St. James's Palace since 1837, but ambassadors to the United Kingdom are still formally accredited to the Court of St. James's.
The term 'Househoulde' first appears in English in 1382, and it began to be used for the king and his entourage shortly afterwards (). Prior to this date Latin terms were used (e.g. (12th century) or (13th century)); Latin terms continued to be used, alongside English ones, until the 1550s. The word 'court' (as in royal court) first appears in the 12th century, but, together with the word 'courtier', only came into common use in this context in the late 1470s, foreshadowing the more lavish and public displays of courtly life that characterised the Tudor period.
The terminology of 'Hall' and 'Chamber' appears from an early date; in time it came to refer not only to significant and sizeable rooms in the royal palaces but also to the principal administrative divisions of the Royal Household (overseen respectively by a steward and a chamberlain). Under the Steward were placed all the 'below stairs' offices of the Household, responsible for the provision of food, drink, fuel and candles to the king and his court; whereas the Chamberlain had charge of the 'above stairs' offices, which supported the public life of the monarch and all kinds of court ceremonial. The equivalent 'outdoor' office was termed the Stables (overseen by a marshal). Over time, lesser rooms (such as the Wardrobe and the Bedchamber) likewise became metonyms for departments of the Household that, in their time, wielded significant powers.
In the 15th century an ambiguity arose with regard to terminology: the two principal divisions (overseen by the Lord Steward and Lord Chamberlain) began to be referred to as the Household and Chamber respectively, (rather than the Hall and Chamber); this usage only began to recede following the formation of the Lord Steward's Department and the Lord Chamberlain's Department in the late 18th century.
History
In the medieval period, there was little, if any, distinction made between the public and private capacities of the monarch: "The land, the people, the law-courts, the army were as much the King's own personal possessions as were his various demesne manors or the furniture of his palaces". Thus, under the Norman kings of England, the Curia Regis ('King's Court') was engaged in every aspect of the management of State affairs – financial, administrative, legislative, judicial, diplomatic – as well as in providing for the day-to-day needs of the monarch and his entourage.
In the twelfth century, the Curia Regis began to disintegrate. Key departments to separate themselves from the Curia Regis were the Exchequer (substantially independent by the end of the twelfth century) and the Chancery (which gained independence more gradually through the thirteenth and early fourteenth century). The Exchequer and Chancery soon became (respectively) the principal accounting and administrative offices of The Crown, overseen by two high officials: the Treasurer and the Chancellor (respectively). Both these officials predated the establishment of their departments: within the Court, the Chancellor had kept the King's official seal since before the Norman conquest; while the office of Treasurer dated from the reign of William I, when the (previously mobile) Treasury found a more permanent home (together with its attendant chamberlain) in Winchester Castle. Their offices also had a judicial character, as seen in the parallel (and inseparable) development of the Court of Exchequer and the Court of Chancery; other courts of law continued to emerge from the Curia Regis in the thirteenth century: first the Common Bench and later the King's Bench.
References to the King's Household, as a distinctive aspect of Court, served initially to differentiate the body of courtiers that continued to serve the immediate needs of the monarch, and to travel with him, as distinct from those more closely identified with what became departments of State with a settled existence 'out of Court'.
Anglo-Saxon period (871–1066) The royal household has roots in a Germanic king's chosen warrior companions () who pledged to defend and, when necessary, die with their king. In return for their loyalty, the king gifted these companions food, treasure, and land. In the pagan period, the () was also a member of the household. He was part counselor, storyteller, and entertainer. With Christianisation, priests assumed prominent roles in the household. The disappeared, his role as counselor taken over by the priests and as entertainer by the scop or minstrel.
The king's companion evolved into the king's thegn (), an aristocratic land-owning class. According to Asser's Life of King Alfred, Alfred the Great () divided his thegns into three groups with each group living one month at court and two months at their own estates in rotation. Alfred made his court into a center of learning, and the sons of nobles were sent there to be educated.
Some thegns had specific duties within the household. In his will, King Eadred () bequeathed money to various officials. The highest ranking officers received 80 gold mancuses each:
Dish-thegns (), or seneschals, supervised the royal table. The æthelings or princes had their own dish-thegn. Raiment-thegns (), or chamberlains, served in the royal apartments and wardrobe. These officials were also called bur-thegns (). (), or butlers, served as cup-bearers and supervised the royal cellar.
King Eadred also bequeathed thirty mancuses to each steward . It is possible that stewards were responsible for administering royal estates There were also marshals () in charge of the royal stables and household travel.
These officials were men of high status, not menial servants. Osburh, daughter of Oslac the butler, married King Æthelwulf () and was the mother of King Alfred. Historian Ann Williams writes of Oslac, "Obviously his duties did not include personally cleaning the family silver or decanting the port, though he presumably oversaw those who did perform analogous tasks."
Service in the royal household could lead to higher office. King Eadwig's dish-thegn Ælfheah became the ealdorman of central Wessex. Likewise, Æthelred the Unready's dish-thegn Æthelmær the Stout became ealdorman of the western shires.
The Merovingian and Carolingian royal households had similar offices, and there is evidence that it influenced its English counterpart. However, there was no English equivalent to the powerful office of (Latin for "mayor of the palace"), and English kings maintained ultimate authority over their households.
The household included royal chaplains. These priests performed religious duties in addition to composing charters, writs, and other documents. Service in the royal chapel could be a stepping stone towards becoming a bishop. By the reign of Edward the Confessor (), the chapel's writing office had custody of the great seal used to authenticate writs.
Cnut the Great () introduced officers known as stallers, who were close to the king and very wealthy. There could be as many as eight stallers at once, and they probably supervised the housecarls (royal bodyguards).
Even though it traveled constantly with the king as an itinerant court, the royal household was the center of the Anglo-Saxon government. Initially, household officers performed domestic tasks (such as overseeing food, clothing, royal stables, or travel). As the king's administrative and judicial responsibilities expanded, public duties were delegated to household officers, making them state officers as well.
Anglo-Norman period (1066–1154) After the Norman Conquest the ducal household of Normandy (with seneschal, cup-bearer, chamberlain and constable) appears to have been replicated in England and merged into the English court. The Anglo-Norman French term 'seneschal' came to be translated as 'steward' in English.
Constitutio Domus Regis The , dating from the end of the reign of King Henry I (), provides the earliest surviving account of the household. The senior figures (according to their remuneration) were: the chancellor (Latin: ) the seneschals (or stewards) (Latin: ) the master butler (Latin: ) the master chamberlain (Latin: ) the treasurer (Latin: ) the constables (Latin: ) The above six office-holders were paid five shillings per day; the chancellor received this invariably, but the others' pay was reduced on days when they ate in hall at the king's expense.
The office of chancellor was still comparatively new, but it appears from his remuneration that he held a degree of seniority within the household. The chancellor was a senior churchman and head of the Chapel; he also had custody of the great seal, used to validate documents issued in the king's name. Working under him were the master of the writing office (), the chaplain keeper () of the chapel and relics, and several clerks. The clerks (who were clerics) drafted official documents and also served in the chapel, which saw to the king's spiritual needs: there they said mass, heard confessions, and kept custody of the royal relics. The chancellor's department (the chancery) was named after the screen (Latin ) which separated the clerks from the main body of the hall.
The seneschals (or stewards) and the butler between them provided food and drink for the king's hall. They oversaw various subsidiary officers who, although they received a lower wage, were far from being menial servants, as evidenced by the example of one Roger, who served as larderer to Henry I and was afterwards appointed Bishop of Hereford.