| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon | |
| Office1: | Principal of Somerville College, Oxford |
| Term Start1: | August 2017 |
| Office2: | Leader of the Opposition in the Lords Shadow Leader of the House of Lords |
| Leader2: | Harriet Harman Ed Miliband |
| Term Start2: | 11 May 2010 |
| Term End2: | 27 May 2015 |
| Predecessor2: | The Lord Strathclyde |
| Successor2: | The Baroness Smith of Basildon |
| Office3: | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster |
| Primeminister3: | Gordon Brown |
| Term Start3: | 5 June 2009 |
| Term End3: | 11 May 2010 |
| Predecessor3: | Liam Byrne |
| Successor3: | The Lord Strathclyde |
| Office4: | Leader of the House of Lords |
| Primeminister4: | Gordon Brown |
| Term Start4: | 3 October 2008 |
| Term End4: | 11 May 2010 |
| Predecessor4: | The Baroness Ashton of Upholland |
| Successor4: | The Lord Strathclyde |
| Office5: | Lord President of the Council |
| Primeminister5: | Gordon Brown |
| Term Start5: | 2 October 2008 |
| Term End5: | 5 June 2009 |
| Predecessor5: | The Baroness Ashton of Upholland |
| Successor5: | The Lord Mandelson |
| Office6: | Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms |
| Primeminister6: | Gordon Brown |
| Term Start6: | 24 January 2008 |
| Term End6: | 3 October 2008 |
| Predecessor6: | The Lord Grocott |
| Successor6: | The Lord Bassam of Brighton |
| Office7: | Baroness-in-waiting Government Whip |
| Primeminister7: | Tony Blair Gordon Brown |
| Term Start7: | 10 May 2005 |
| Term End7: | 25 January 2008 |
| Predecessor7: | The Lord Triesman |
| Successor7: | The Baroness Thornton |
| Office8: | Members of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start8: | 25 June 2004 Life Peerage |
| Birth Date: | 20 August 1955 |
| Birth Place: | Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England |
| Party: | Labour and Co-operative |
| Children: | 3 |
| Alma Mater: | University of London |
Janet Anne Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, (born 20 August 1955), is a British Labour Co-operative Party politician. She was Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. She is the principal of Somerville College, Oxford.
Royall grew up in Gloucestershire in Hucclecote and Newnham on Severn, where her parents ran a shop.[1]
Royall was educated at the Royal Forest of Dean Grammar School and Westfield College, University of London, where she gained a BA in Spanish and French in 1977.
Royall was a special adviser to Neil Kinnock, the leader of the Labour Party, in the 1980s, and she has remained a close ally of his ever since. She sought selection as Labour's candidate for Ogmore in a 2002 by-election, losing to Huw Irranca-Davies. In 2003 she became head of the European Commission office in Wales.[2]
On 25 June 2004, she was created a life peer as Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, of Blaisdon in the County of Gloucestershire. She spoke for the Health, International Development and Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.
On 24 January 2008 Royall was appointed government chief whip in the House of Lords, on the resignation of Lord Grocott. She was appointed a Privy Counsellor later in the year. On 3 October 2008, she was appointed to the cabinet by Gordon Brown, as Leader of the unelected House of Lords and Lord President of the Council. On 5 June 2009, Royall was succeeded as Lord President by Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, and was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
She voted for a 100% elected House, on the last occasion that the House of Lords voted on Reform of the House of Lords in March 2007.[3] She has called for a national referendum on any reforms of the chamber.
In September 2012, she spoke out against the proposed badger cull.[4]
She announced in May 2015 that she would not seek re-election as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords.[5]
In 2016, she chaired an investigation into allegations of antisemitism in Oxford University Labour Club and was subsequently one of two Vice-Chairs of the Chakrabarti Inquiry into antisemitism in the UK Labour Party.[6]
In February 2017, Somerville College, Oxford, announced the selection of Baroness Royall as its next principal.[7] She succeeded Alice Prochaska at the end of August 2017.[7]
She was married to Stuart Hercock from 1980 until his death in 2010, and has a daughter, Charlie, and two sons, Ned and Harry.[8]
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