Great Officer of State for England
The
Lord Great Chamberlain of England
[1]
is the sixth of the
Great Officers of State
, ranking beneath the
Lord Privy Seal
but above the
Lord High Constable
. The office of Lord Great Chamberlain is an ancient one, being first created circa 1126 in Norman times and in continuous existence since 1138. The incumbent is
Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington
.
Duties
[
edit
]
The Lord Great Chamberlain is entrusted by
the Sovereign
with custody of the
Palace of Westminster
, the seat of the
British Parliament
, and serves as his or her representative therein.
[2]
The Lord Great Chamberlain enjoys plenary jurisdiction in those precincts of the Palace of Westminster not assigned to either the
House of Lords
or the
House of Commons
, namely, the
Royal Apartments
and
Central Lobby
. To this end, the Lord Great Chamberlain is responsible for the use, preservation, and occupation of such spaces.
[a]
In addition, the Lord Great Chamberlain is one of three commissioners which exercise control and maintenance over
Westminster Hall
and the
Crypt Chapel
; the other commissioners are the
Lord Speaker of the House of Lords
and the
Speaker of the House of Commons
, respectively.
[4]
The Lord Great Chamberlain performs other less routine functions as custodian of the Palace of Westminster. For example, the Lord Great Chamberlain introduces
peers
and
bishops
to the House of Lords, accompanied by
Black Rod
, and welcomes foreign heads of state visiting the Palace of Westminster. Likewise, the Lord Great Chamberlain is responsible for attending upon the Sovereign whenever he or she is present at the parliamentary estate. In the latter case, the Lord Great Chamberlain is authorized to make any administrative arrangements necessary for delivery of services required by the Sovereign.
[5]
[6]
However, the Lord Great Chamberlain’s most publicly visible parliamentary role, in practice, is participating in
state openings of Parliament
. To this end, the Lord Great Chamberlain receives the Sovereign at
Norman Porch
, enrobes him or her with the
Robe of State
and the
Imperial State Crown
in the
Robing Room
, and leads the Sovereign’s procession through the
Royal Gallery
and the
Prince's Chamber
into the
Lords Chamber
.
[7]
It is also the Lord Great Chamberlain who, upon the command of the Sovereign, directs Black Rod to summon members of the House of Commons to attend the House of Lords for the purpose of hearing the
speech from the throne
.
[8]
Parliamentary responsibilities aside, the Lord Great Chamberlain also has a major part to play in royal coronations, having the right to dress the monarch on coronation day and to serve the monarch water before and after the coronation banquet. Likewise, the Lord Great Chamberlain invests the monarch with the insignia of rule during the coronation service.
[9]
[10]
On state occasions like coronations, the Lord Great Chamberlain wears a distinctive scarlet court uniform and bears a gold key and a
white staff
as the insignia of his office.
[11]
The office of Lord Great Chamberlain is distinct from the non-hereditary office of
Lord Chamberlain of the Household
, a position in the
monarch's household
. This office arose in the 14th century as a deputy of the Lord Great Chamberlain to fulfil the latter's duties in the Royal Household, but now they are quite distinct.
The
House of Lords Act 1999
removed the automatic right of
hereditary peers
to sit in the House of Lords, but the Act provided that a hereditary peer exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain (as well as the
Earl Marshal
) be exempt from such a rule, in order to perform ceremonial functions.
Succession
[
edit
]
The position is a hereditary one, held since 1780
in gross
.
At any one time, a single person actually exercises the office of Lord Great Chamberlain.
The various individuals who hold fractions of the office are properly each
Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain
.
They choose one individual of the rank of a knight or higher to be the
Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain
.
[12]
[13]
Under an agreement made in 1912, the right to exercise the office for a given reign rotates among three families (of the then three joint office holders) in proportion to the fraction of the office held.
For instance, the Marquesses of Cholmondeley hold one-half of the office, and may therefore exercise the office or appoint a deputy every alternate reign.
Whenever one of the three shares of the 1912 agreement is split further, the joint heirs of this share have to agree among each other, who should be their deputy or any mechanism to determine who of them has the right to choose a deputy.
History of the office
[
edit
]
The office was originally held by
Robert Malet
, a son of one of the leading companions of
William the Conqueror
. In 1133, however,
King Henry I
declared Malet's estates and titles forfeit, and awarded the office of Lord Great Chamberlain to
Aubrey de Vere
, whose son was created
Earl of Oxford
. Thereafter, the Earls of Oxford held the title almost continuously until 1526, with a few intermissions due to the forfeiture of some Earls for treason. In 1526, however, the fourteenth Earl of Oxford died, leaving his aunts as his heirs. The earldom was inherited by a more distant heir-male, his second cousin. The Sovereign (at that time
Henry VIII
) then decreed that the office belonged to
the Crown
, and was not transmitted along with the earldom. The Sovereign appointed the fifteenth Earl to the office, but the appointment was deemed for life and was not hereditary. The family's association with the office was interrupted in 1540, when the fifteenth earl died and
Thomas Cromwell
, the King's chief adviser, was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain.
[14]
After Cromwell's
attainder
and execution later the same year, the office passed through a few more court figures, until 1553, when it was passed back to the De Vere family, the sixteenth Earl of Oxford, again as an uninheritable life appointment.
[15]
Later,
Queen Mary I
ruled that the Earls of Oxford were indeed entitled to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain on an hereditary basis.
Thus, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth Earls of Oxford held the position on a hereditary basis until 1626, when the eighteenth Earl died, again leaving a distant relative as
heir male
, but a closer one as a female heir. The
House of Lords
eventually ruled that the office belonged to the
heir general
,
Robert Bertie, 14th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
, who later became
Earl of Lindsey
. The office remained vested in the Earls of Lindsey, who later became
Dukes of Ancaster and Kesteven
.
In 1779, however, the fourth Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven died, leaving two sisters as female heirs, and an uncle as an heir male. The uncle became the fifth and last Duke, but the House of Lords ruled that the two sisters were jointly Lord Great Chamberlain and could appoint a Deputy to fulfil the functions of the office. The barony of
Willoughby de Eresby
went into
abeyance
between the two sisters, but the Sovereign terminated the abeyance and granted the title to the elder sister,
Priscilla Bertie, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
. The office of Lord Great Chamberlain, however, was divided between Priscilla and her younger sister Georgiana. Priscilla's share was eventually split between two of her granddaughters, and has been split several more times since then. By contrast, Georgiana's share has been inherited by a single male heir each time; that individual has in each case been the
Marquess of Cholmondeley
, a title created for
Georgiana's husband
.
20th and 21st centuries
[
edit
]
In 1902 it was ruled by the House of Lords that the then joint office holders (
the 1st Earl of Ancaster
,
the 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley
, and
the Earl Carrington, later Marquess of Lincolnshire
) had to agree on a deputy to exercise the office, subject to the approval of the Sovereign. Should there be no such agreement, the Sovereign should appoint a deputy until an agreement be reached.
[16]
In 1912 an agreement was reached. The office, or right to appoint the person to exercise the office, would thereafter rotate among the three joint office holders and their heirs after them, changing at the start of each successive reign. Cholmondeley and his heirs would serve in every other reign; Ancaster and Carrington would each serve once in four reigns.
[17]
As the Cholmondeley share and the Ancaster share (held since 1983 by
the Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
) are not further split, each of these holders decides in his or her turn to act as Lord Great Chamberlain or to name a person who will act as Lord Great Chamberlain. The Carrington share was divided at his death among his five daughters and their heirs, and has since been further divided, with 11 people holding shares as of September 2022. At accession of Charles III the turn fell to the Carrington heirs who named their cousin
Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington
to act as Lord Great Chamberlain.
[18]
[19]
[20]
Being descended from the Earl's younger brother he himself has no share of the office.
On 6 May 2023 the Lord Great Chamberlain presented spurs to
King Charles III
as part of his
coronation
. The spurs were included among the first English coronation ornaments in 1189 and were used during the coronation of
Richard I
.
[21]
Lord Great Chamberlains, 1130?1779
[
edit
]
Joint hereditary Lord Great Chamberlains, 1780?present
[
edit
]
The fractions show the holder's share in the office, and the date they held it. The current (as of 2022
[update]
) holders of the office are shown in
bold
face.
Joint hereditary Lord Great Chamberlains, 1780?present
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Priscilla Bertie, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
1
⁄
2
1780?1828
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Georgiana Cholmondeley,
Marchioness of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1780?1838
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby
1
⁄
2
1828?1865
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | George Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1838?1870
| | William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1870?1884
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Albyric Drummond-Willoughby, 23rd Baron Willoughby de Eresby
1
⁄
2
1865?1870
| | Clementina Drummond-Willoughby, 24th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
1
⁄
4
1870?1888
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Charlotte Augusta Carrington,
Lady Carrington
1
⁄
4
1870?1879
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Charles George Cholmondeley
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster
1
⁄
4
1888?1910
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire
1
⁄
4
1879?1928
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | George Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1884?1923
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster
1
⁄
4
1910?1951
| | Marjorie Wilson,
Baroness Nunburnholme
1
⁄
20
1928?1968
| | | | | | Lady Alexandra Llewellen Palmer
1
⁄
20
1928?1955
| | | | | | | | | | Ruperta Legge,
Countess of Dartmouth
1
⁄
20
1928?1963
| | | | | | | | | | Judith Keppel,
Countess of Albemarle
| | Lady Victoria Weld-Forester
1
⁄
20
1928?1966
| | George Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1923?1968
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster
1
⁄
4
1951?1983
| | Charles Wilson, 3rd Baron Nunburnholme
1
⁄
20
1968?1974
| | Brig. Anthony Llewellen Palmer
1
⁄
20
1955?1990
| | Col. Charles Timothy Llewellen Palmer
| | Lady Mary Findlay
1
⁄
100
1963?2003
| | Lady Elizabeth Basset
1
⁄
100
1963?2000
| | Lady Diana Matthews
1
⁄
100
1963?1970
| | Lady Barbara Kwiatkowska
1
⁄
100
1963?2013
| | Josceline Chichester,
Marchioness of Donegall
1
⁄
100
1963?1995
| | Derek Keppel, Viscount Bury
1
⁄
20
1928?1968
| | Sir Henry Legge-Bourke
1
⁄
20
1966?1973
| | Hugh Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1968?1990
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
1
⁄
4
1983?
| | Ben Wilson, 4th Baron Nunburnholme
1
⁄
20
1974?1998
| | | | | | Julian Llewellen Palmer
1
⁄
20
1990?2002
| | Cdr Jonathan Findlay
1
⁄
100
2003?2015
| | Bryan Basset
1
⁄
100
2000?2010
| | Col
James Hamilton-Russell
1
⁄
100
1970?
| | Jan Witold Kwiatkowski
1
⁄
100
2013?
| | Patrick Chichester, 8th Marquess of Donegall
1
⁄
100
1995?
| | Rufus Keppel, 10th Earl of Albemarle
1
⁄
20
1968?
| | William Legge-Bourke
1
⁄
20
1973?2009
| | David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley
1
⁄
2
1990?
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
The Hon.
Lorraine Wilson
1
⁄
80
1998?2022
1
⁄
60
2022?
| | The Hon.
Tatiana Dent
1
⁄
80
1998?2022
1
⁄
60
2022?
| | The Hon.
Ines Garton
1
⁄
80
1998?2022
1
⁄
60
2022?
| | The Hon. Ysabel Williams
1
⁄
80
1998?2022
| | Nicholas Llewellen Palmer
1
⁄
20
2002?
| | Christopher Findlay
1
⁄
100
2015?
| | David Basset
1
⁄
100
2010
| | Michael James Basset
1
⁄
100
2010?
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | Capt.
Harry Legge-Bourke
1
⁄
20
2009?
|
|
Persons exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, 1780?present
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"No. 52335"
.
The London Gazette
. 14 November 1990. p. 17651.
THE QUEEN has been pleased by Warrant under Her Majesty's Royal Sign Manual, bearing date 5th November 1990, to approve the selection of David George Philip, Marquess of Cholmondeley to perform and execute the office of Lord Great Chamberlain of England.
- ^
Daniel Brittain (27 November 2022).
"Changing of the Lord: How Lord Carrington became the new Lord Great Chamberlain"
. PoliticsHome
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
Michale Torrance (30 November 2021).
"Governance and Administration of the House of Lords"
(PDF)
. House of Lords Library. p. 22
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
"Records of the Lord Great Chamberlain"
. Parliamentary Archives of the United Kingdom. October 2023
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
"Lord Great Chamberlain"
. UK Parliament
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
Daniel Brittain (19 April 2023).
"Being Lord Great Chamberlain is an honour my father would have hated"
. The Times
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
Allan Burton, PhD - The Antiquary (7 November 2023).
"What is the State Opening of Parliament?"
. YouTube
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
"State Opening: how it happens"
. UK Parliament
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
Round, J. Horace
(June 1902).
"The Lord Great Chamberlain"
.
Monthly Review
.
7
(21): 42?58.
Archived
from the original on 30 July 2022
. Retrieved
5 August
2020
.
- ^
Sophie French (4 May 2023).
"Lord Great Chamberlain interview: 'I've been preparing for a long time mentally'
"
. PoliticsHome
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
"King Charles will dress himself at the coronation - Lord Great Chamberlain"
. Times Radio. 4 May 2023
. Retrieved
10 May
2024
.
- ^
"House of Lords Journal Volume 36: May 1781 21-30".
Journal of the House of Lords Volume 36, 1779-1783
. London: British History Online. 1767?1830. pp. 296?309.
Archived
from the original on 29 November 2020
. Retrieved
5 January
2020
.
- ^
"Office Of Lord Great Chamberlain"
.
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
. House of Lords. May 6, 1902.
Archived
2021-01-28 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Thomas Mortimer
, ed. (1776).
The British Plutarch
. p. 115.
Archived
from the original on 2018-12-24
. Retrieved
2016-06-02
.
- ^
Loades, D. (2004)
Intrigue and Treason: the Tudor Court, 1547?1558
Harlow: Pearson, p.309
- ^
"Office Of Lord Great Chamberlain"
.
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
. House of Lords. May 6, 1902.
Archived
2021-01-28 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Great Officers of State: The Lord Great Chamberlain and The Earl Marshal
Archived
6 January 2014 at the
Wayback Machine
. The Royal Family.
debretts.com
Archived
2019-08-24 at the
Wayback Machine
. Debrett's Limited. Accessed 17 September 2013.
- ^
"Position of the Lord Great Chamberlain following the demise of the monarch (Freedom of Information request)"
(PDF)
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2021-09-24
. Retrieved
2021-09-24
.
- ^
HL Deb, 15 March 2019 vol 796 c1213
- ^
"Oaths - Hansard - UK Parliament"
.
- ^
"Coronation: Take a look at the special 1661 golden spurs presented to the King"
. forces.net. 6 May 2023
. Retrieved
7 May
2023
.
- ^
'Rymer's Foedera with Syllabus: January?June 1464', in Rymer's Foedera Volume 11, ed. Thomas Rymer (London, 1739?1745), pp. 512?531. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rymer-foedera/vol11/pp512-531
Archived
2020-11-27 at the
Wayback Machine
[accessed 3 September 2020].
- ^
'Rymer's Foedera with Syllabus: 1487', in Rymer's Foedera Volume 12, ed. Thomas Rymer (London, 1739?1745), pp. 320?331. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rymer-foedera/vol12/pp320-331
Archived
2020-11-27 at the
Wayback Machine
[accessed 5 September 2020].
- ^
'Henry VIII: August 1540, 1-10', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 15, 1540, ed. James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie (London, 1896), pp. 481?488. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol15/pp481-488
Archived
2020-09-25 at the
Wayback Machine
[accessed 20 August 2020].
- ^
'Henry VIII: January 1543, 6-10', in Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 18, Part 1, January?July 1543, ed. James Gairdner and R. H. Brodie (London, 1901), pp. 7?21. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/letters-papers-hen8/vol18/no1/pp7-21
Archived
2020-11-27 at the
Wayback Machine
[accessed 20 August 2020].
- ^
'Officers of State during the period covered', in The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550?1563, ed. J. G. Nichols (London, 1848), pp. xiv?xix. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol42/xiv-xix
Archived
2020-11-27 at the
Wayback Machine
[accessed 5 September 2020].
- ^
'Officers of State during the period covered', in The Diary of Henry Machyn, Citizen and Merchant-Taylor of London, 1550?1563, ed. J. G. Nichols (London, 1848), pp. xiv?xix. British History Online
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/camden-record-soc/vol42/xiv-xix
Archived
2020-11-27 at the
Wayback Machine
[accessed 5 September 2020].
External links
[
edit
]
|
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Great Officers of State
of England
| | |
---|
Officers of State
of Scotland
| |
---|
Officers of the Crown
of Scotland
| |
---|
1
Office is either vested in the Crown, or vacant.
Status is currently debated
.
2
There is debate around whether these offices constitute Officers of the Crown.
|