Everything about Groom Of The Chamber totally explained
Groom of the Chamber and
Groom of the Privy Chamber were positions in the
Royal Household of the
British monarchy, the latter considerably more elevated. Other
Ancien Régime royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the
Duchy of Burgundy, and in England while French was still the language of the court, the title was varlet or
valet de chambre. In German, Danish and Russian the term was "Kammerjunker".
Traditionally, the English Court was organized into three branches or departments:
1) the Household, primarily concerned with fiscal more than domestic matters, the "royal purse;"
2) the Bedchamber, focused on the most direct and intimate aspects of the lives of the royal family, with its own offices, like the Groom of the Body and the Squire of the Body;
3) the Chamber, concerned with the
Presence Chamber, the
Privy Chamber, and other more public rooms of the royal palaces, as the Bedchamber was concerned with the innermost.
The Chamber organization was controlled by the
Lord Chamberlain; if he was the general of a small army of servitors, the Grooms of the Chamber were his junior officers, with ushers and footmen the footsoldiers. The Grooms wore the royal livery (in earlier periods), served as general attendants, and fulfilled a wide range of specific functions. (One Groom of the Chamber had the job of handing the "King's Stuff" to a Squire of the Body, who would then dress the King.) Grooms ranked below Gentlemen of the Chamber, usually important noblemen, but above Yeomen of the Chamber. They were mostly well-born, on a first rung of a
courtiers career.
The office of Groom of the Chamber could also be bestowed in a more honorific manner, upon people who served the royal household in some less direct way. The early
Tudor poet
Stephen Hawes became a Groom of the Chamber in 1502, under
Henry VII. In the reigns of the early monarchs of the
House of Stuart,
James I and
Charles I, the actors of the
King's Men, the
playing company under royal patronage, were officially "Grooms extraordinary of the Chamber". They didn't usually fulfill the normal functions of the office; rather, they served the King by performing plays for him. Although on busy occasions, the King's Men appear to have acted as more ordinary servants: in August 1604 they were "waiting and attending" upon the Spanish ambassador at Somerset House, "on his Majesty's service" — but no plays were performed.) They were also turned out to bulk up the Household for grand ceremonial occasions.
A similar arrangement held for some of
Queen Anne's Men, including their playwright
Thomas Heywood; they became Grooms of the Queen's Chamber, under the Queen's Chamberlain. On some occasions,
Shakespeare, Heywood, and their compatriots wore the royal livery, marched in processions, and played other roles in the ceremonial life of the monarchy. In at least two cases, those of
George Bryan (
Lord Chamberlain's Men) and John Singer (
Queen Elizabeth's Men;
Admiral's Men), professional actors became "normal" Grooms of the Chamber, with the normal duties, after retiring from the stage.
Similarly, the French
portrait painter
Jean Clouet (c. 1485–1540) was appointed a
valet de chambre groom of the chamber of the French monarchy in 1523, as was his son
François Clouet later. The office could serve as a
sinecure to provide a minimum income and social place for someone who enjoyed royal favor.
Many noble households in Britain and eslewhere in Europe had their own grooms of the chamber, known by various titles. See
Valet de chambre for a fuller account.
See also:
Groom of the Robes;
Groom of the Stole;
Groom of the Stool.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Groom Of The Chamber'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://groom_of_the_chamber.totallyexplained.com">Groom of the Chamber Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
