Lord Great Chamberlain
From Wikinfo
The Lord Great Chamberlain of England is the sixth of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Privy Seal and above the Lord High Constable. The office began as a position in the royal household but rapidly evolved to a more honorary position. The officer has a role in the coronation of the monarch.
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History
The position may have been held first by Robert Malet, a son of one of the leading companions of William the Conqueror. King Henry I declared Malet's estates and titles forfeit, and in 1133 awarded the hereditary office of master chamberlain to Aubrey de Vere II (d. 1141). His son and heir, Aubrey de Vere III (d. 1194), was created Earl of Oxford. Thereafter, the Vere Earls of Oxford held the office almost continuously until 1526, with a few intermissions due to the forfeiture of some earls.
In 1526, however, the fourteenth Earl of Oxford died, leaving his aunts as his female heirs. The earldom was inherited by a more distant heir-male, his second cousin. The Sovereign then declared that the office of Lord Great Chamberlain belonged to the Crown and was not transmitted along with the earldom. The Sovereign appointed the fifteenth and sixteenth Earls to the office, but the appointments were deemed for life and were non-inheritable. Queen Mary I ruled that the Earls of Oxford were indeed entitled to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain on a hereditary basis.
Thus, the sixteenth and seventeenth Earls of Oxford held the position on a hereditary basis. In 1626, when the seventeenth Earl died, again leaving a distant relative as a male heir, but a closer one as a female heir. The House of Lords eventually ruled that the office belonged to the male heir, Robert Bertie, 13th 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 a male heir.
The uncle became fifth Duke, but the House of Lords ruled that the two sisters were jointly Lord Great Chamberlain, and could appoint a deputy to fulfill its functions. 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. The younger sister later married the first Marquess of Cholmondeley. 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 individual each time; that individual has in each case been the Marquess of Cholmondeley, a title created for Georgiana's husband.
At any one time, a single "deputy" is entitled to perform the office of Lord Great Chamberlain. The right to appoint a deputy rotates between the various individuals who hold fractions of the Lord Great Chamberlainship, with such holders being permitted the right to make an appointment for a number of reigns proportional to the fraction of the office held. For instance, the Marquesses of Cholmondeley hold one-half of the office, and may therefore appoint a deputy every alternate reign.
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. The Lord Great Chamberlain has charge over the Palace of Westminster, and especially of the House of Lords, and bears the Sword of State at state openings and closings of Parliament. 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, and also being involved in investing the monarch with the insignia of rule.
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 the Lord Great Chamberlain (or the deputy carrying out that office) and Earl Marshal be exempt from such a rule, so that they may continue to carry out their ceremonial functions.
Lords Great Chamberlain, 1626-1928
See Earl of Oxford for Earls of Oxford who have served as Lord Great Chamberlain.
| Years | Holder of the Lord Great Chamberlainship | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 1626-1642 | Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey | 1 |
| 1642-1644 | Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey | 1 |
| 1666-1701 | Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey | 1 |
| 1701-1723 | Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven | 1 |
| 1723-1742 | Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven | 1 |
| 1742-1778 | Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven | 1 |
| 1778-1779 | Robert Bertie, 4th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven | 1 |
| 1780-1828 | Priscilla Bertie, 20th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby | 1/2 |
| Georgiana Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1828-1838 | Peter Drummond-Willoughby, 21st Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1/2 |
| Georgiana Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1838-1865 | Peter Drummond-Willoughby, 21st Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1/2 |
| George Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1865-1870 | Albyric Drummond-Willoughby, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1/2 |
| George Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1870 | Albyric Drummond-Willoughby, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1/2 |
| William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1870-1879 | Clementine Elizabeth, 23rd Baroness Willoughby de Eresby | 1/4 |
| Charlotte Augusta Wynn-Carrington, Baroness Carrington | 1/4 | |
| William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1879-1884 | Clementine Elizabeth, 23rd Baroness Willoughby de Eresby | 1/4 |
| Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | 1/4 | |
| William Cholmondeley, 3rd Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1884-1888 | Clementine Elizabeth, 23rd Baroness Willoughby de Eresby | 1/4 |
| Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | 1/4 | |
| George Henry Hugh Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1884-1910 | Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster | 1/4 |
| Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | 1/4 | |
| George Henry Hugh Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1910-1923 | Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster | 1/4 |
| Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | 1/4 | |
| George Henry Hugh Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 | |
| 1923-1928 | Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster | 1/4 |
| Charles Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | 1/4 | |
| George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1/2 |
With the death of the Marquess of Lincolnshire in 1928, his portion of the Lord Great Chamberlainship was split among his coheirs, namely, his daughters, the Lady Nunburnholme, the Lady Alexandra Palmer, the Countess of Dartmouth, and the Lady Victoria Weld-Forester, and his grandson, Viscount Bury, son and heir of the Marquess's fourth daughter, the Countess of Albemarle. The list is thus presently incomplete.
Deputies exercising the Office of Lord Great Chamberlain, 1780-present
| Monarch | Deputy | Years |
|---|---|---|
| George III | Peter Burrell, 1st Baron Gwydyr | 1780-1820 |
| George IV | Peter Burrell, 1st Baron Gwydyr | 1820-1821 |
| Peter Drummond-Willoughby, 21st Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1821-1830 | |
| William IV | George Horatio Cholmondeley, 2nd Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1830-1837 |
| Victoria | Peter Drummond-Willoughby, 21st Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1837-1865 |
| Albyric Drummond-Willoughby, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby | 1865-1870 | |
| Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster | 1871-1901 | |
| Edward VII | George Henry Hugh Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1901-1910 |
| George V | Robert Wynn-Carrington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire | 1910-1928 |
| William Legge, 7th Earl of Dartmouth | 1928-1936 | |
| Edward VIII | George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1936 |
| George VI | Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster | 1936-1951 |
| Gilbert James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster | 1951-1952 | |
| Elizabeth II | George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1952-1966 |
| George Hugh Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1966-1990 | |
| David George Philip Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 1990- |
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Lord_Great_Chamberlain" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Great_Chamberlain, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
