Master of the Household explained

Post:Master of the Household
Insignia:Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Tudor crown).svg
Insigniacaption:Royal Coat of Arms
Incumbent:Tony Johnstone-Burt
Incumbentsince:2013
Department:Royal Households of the United Kingdom
Reports To:The Monarch
Seat:Buckingham Palace
Appointer:The Monarch
Termlength:At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation:1805
First:Richard Browne
Deputy:Deputy Master of the Household

The Master of the Household is the operational head (see Chief operating officer) of the "below stairs" elements of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. The role has charge of the domestic staff, from the Royal Kitchens, the pages and footmen, to the housekeeper and their staff. The appointment has its origin in the household reforms of 1539-40; it is under the (now purely nominal) supervision of the Lord Steward.

Since 2004 the Office of the Prince of Wales has included a Master of the Household.

History

Historically, the Master of the Household was a member of the Lord Steward's Department, and sat on the Board of Green Cloth.[1] Among other duties, he presided at the daily dinners of the suite in waiting on the sovereign. The office is not named in the Black Book of Edward IV or in the Statutes of Henry VIII but is entered as Master of the Household and one of the clerks of the Green Cloth in the Household Book of Queen Elizabeth.

Initially there were four Masters of the Household, and they were working officers; but by the late 17th century there was a single Master and the post had become a sinecure. In 1782, when a number of household sinecures were abolished, the Master of the Household was given renewed responsibility for the management of the Lord Steward's Department; and under further reforms overseen by Prince Albert he was given charge of the entire domestic establishment.

In the 1920s, as part of a reconfiguration of the King's Household, the Lord Steward's Department was renamed the Master of the Household's Department. The Master of the Household chaired the Board of Green Cloth up until the time of its abolition in the early 21st century.[2]

List of Masters of the Household

List of Deputy Masters of the Household

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Bucholz . R. O. . Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 11 (Revised), Court Officers, 1660-1837 . 2006 . University of London . xx-xxxvii . 5 July 2024 . Introduction: Administrative Structure and Work of the Royal Household.
  2. Book: Allison . Ronald . Riddell . Sarah . The Royal Encyclopedia . 1991 . Macmillan . London . 335.
  3. Web site: Court Circular. 19 September 2013.