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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 Lord Great Chamberlain has charge over the Palace of Westminster, and especially of the House of Lords, and technically bears the Sword of State at state openings and closings of Parliament, though this duty is usually delegated to a Lord of Parliament who is also a Field Marshal. 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 position is a hereditary one, held 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 Lord Great Chamberlainship are technically each Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain, and the right to exercise the office for a given reign rotates proportionately 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. (A Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain is a person exercising the office who is not personally a co-heir to the office; historically these have been sons or husbands of co-heirs as the office has never been exercised by a female, females having been forbidden to sit in the Lords until the present 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. This office arose, in fact, 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, so that they may continue to carry out their ceremonial functions.

History of the office

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 female heirs. The earldom was inherited by a more distant heir-male, his second cousin. The Sovereign then declared that the office 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 uninheritable. Then, 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 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, 14th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, who later became Earl of Lindsey. The office remained vested in the Earls of Lindsey, who later became the Duke 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 fulfil 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 male heir each time; that individual has in each case been the Marquess of Cholmondeley, a title created for Georgiana's husband.

Lords Great Chamberlain, 1485-present

See Earl of Oxford for earlier Earls of Oxford who have served as Lord Great Chamberlain.

The list is presently incomplete.

Persons exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain, 1780-present

Current rotation

The rotation switches to the next person in line at the death of each monarch.

1. Lorraine Wilson
2. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
3. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
4. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
5. Nicholas Palmer (or his representative)
6. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
7. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
8. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
9. Jonathan Findlay (or his representative)
10. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
11. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
12. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
13. The Earl of Albemarle
14. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
15. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
16. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
17. William Legge-Bourke (or his representative)
18. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
19. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
20. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
21. Tatiana Dent (or her lineal representative)
22. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
23. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
24. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
25. Nicholas Palmer
26. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
27. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
28. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
29. Bryan Ronald Basset (or his representative)
30. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
31. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
32. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
33. The Earl of Albemarle
34. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
35. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
36. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
37. William Legge-Bourke
38. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
39. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
40. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
41. Ines Garton (or her representative)
42. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
43. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
44. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
45. Nicholas Palmer
46. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
47. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
48. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
49. James Hamilton-Russell
50. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
51. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
52. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
53. The Earl of Albemarle
54. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
55. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
56. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
57. William Legge-Bourke
58. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
59. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
60. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
61. Ysabel Wilson (or her representative)
62. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
63. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
64. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
65. Nicholas Palmer
66. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
67. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
68. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
69. Lady Barbara Kwiatkowski (or her representative)
70. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
71. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
72. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
73. The Earl of Albemarle
74. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
75. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
76. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
77. William Legge-Bourke
78. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
79. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
80. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
81. Lorraine Wilson (or her representative)
82. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
83. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
84. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
85. Nicholas Palmer
86. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
87. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
88. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
89. The Marquess of Donegall
90. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
91. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
92. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
93. The Earl of Albemarle
94. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
95. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
96. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
97. William Legge-Bourke
98. The Marquess of Cholmondeley
99. The Baroness Willoughby de Eresby
100. The Marquess of Cholmondeley