HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL (of Great Britain). The personal attendants upon the reigning sov ereign. Among all primitive Germanic peoples we find such attendants. The chief officers of the household are usually four in number: the steward, who is the head of the household; the marshal, or head of the royal stables; the cup bearer: and the chamberlain, who has charge of the King's chambers. These four officers are found among the Anglo-Saxons and at the Court of the Norman dukes. As the royal power de veloped, the household attendants became officers of state, and the Ding's household is his min istry. Under the Norman kings of England the royal household consisted of two sets of officers, whose functions greatly resembled each other. Foremost among them was the justiciar, the King's chief adviser and his representative in England when the King was abroad. The stew ard, whose most important functions of state passed over to the justiciar, remained head of the royal household. Other members were the treasurer, who had charge of the King's treasury, and the chamberlain, who audited the accounts: the constable, a sort of quartermaster-general of the Court and the army, who had a seat in the exchequer, and the marshal, whose functions were similar. Some of these officers, viz. the steward, the constable, butler and marshal, were hereditary in the great Norman families, and either lost their importance or became merely household officers. Others which were appointed, like the justiciar, chancellor, and treasurer, be came the important officers of state.
In the present organization of the royal house hold the lord steward is the chief. officer. His authority extends over the treasurer, the con troller and the master of the household, and over all the other household officers and servants ex cept those of the chapel, the chamber, and the stable. The dean and the subdean are the prin cipal officers of the chapel, which is eumposed of a number of clerks and chaplains. The lord chamberlain controls the officers and servants of the royal chambers, and appoints the trades men who are purveyors to the sovereign. The master of the horse is in charge of the royal stables, and has under his charge the master of the hounds, the grand falconer, the crown equerry, and other servants. In the court of a female sovereign the ladies of the household play an important part. The mistress of thei,robes is the
head of this department, and under her are the ladies of the bedchamber, maids of honor, and other attendants. The ladies of the bedchamber are the personal attendants of the Queen. Be sides these there are a large number of physi cians, surgeons, apothecaries, druggists, and den tists in attendance. The other members of the royal family have similar households, but on a much smaller scale.
The expenses connected with the royal house hold have. varied greatly in the different periods of English history. In the Aliddle Ages the King was always attended by a large following of lords, both spiritual and temporal, besides knights, esquires, and other inferior attendants. Ile obtained provisions for his Court by exercising the right of PURVEYANCE (q.v.). which has been abolished. Notwithstanding this, the expenses of the royal household often proved a burden to Parliament. which sometimes regulated them. This was most carefully done in the House hold Book of Edward IV., which rigorously de fined the officers of the household and the duties of its members. The expenses of the household of Edward IV. were £13,000 a year, which may be taken as a fair average sum for the household expenses of a king during that period. Since the accession of William III.. Parliament has fixed the amount of the appropriation at the beginning of each reign. Queen Victoria received an allow ance of £355,000 a year, distributed as follows: Privy purse. £60.000; household salaries and retired allowances, £131,260; household ex penses. £172.500; royal bounty, arms and special services, £13.200; leaving an unappropriated balance of £SO40, to be used at discretion. The Prince of Wales received an annuity of f40.000 over and above his other revenues, the Duke of Connaught f25.000, and the other members of the royal family in proportion to their rank. By a grant of May 9, 1001. Parliament increased the civil list to £415.000 for Edward VII., the King's privy purse being increased to £110,000.
For the early period consult: Kemble, in England. vol. iii. (London, I SS6 ) Stubbs, Constitn?ional History of England, vol. i. (6th ed.. Oxford. 1697) The Ordinances and Regula tions for the Gorernment of the Royal household were published by the Society of Antiquaries (London, 1790) ; Lindsay, The Royal Household ( London, 1S9S).