The office ofGroom in Waiting (sometimes hyphenated asGroom-in-Waiting) was a post in theRoyal Household of the United Kingdom, which in earlier times was usually held by more than one person at a time – in the late Middle Ages there might be dozens of persons with the rank, though theEsquires and Knights of the Body were more an important and select group. Grooms-in-Waiting to other members of the Royal Family and Extra Grooms in Waiting were also sometimes appointed. For the general history of court valets or grooms seeValet de chambre.

From the time of theRestoration (1660), the king was attended byGrooms of the Bedchamber, whose functions as attendants on the monarch's person were performed in the reign ofQueen Anne byWomen of the Bedchamber. By the time ofQueen Victoria, however, the majority of political offices no longer involving regular attendance on the sovereign, there were appointed, in addition to the Queen's Women of the Bedchamber, eight Grooms in Waiting who would discharge those political and social functions of the Grooms of the Bedchamber which could not be undertaken by the Queen's attendants of the female sex. After Queen Victoria's reign, the nomenclature of "Grooms in Waiting" was retained in preference to "Grooms of the Bedchamber".

One of the holders of the office was designated the Parliamentary Groom in Waiting from about 1859, when it became customary to appoint aMember of Parliament who was a supporter of the government of the day. In addition to his political functions, the Parliamentary Groom in Waiting was in attendance on the Queen with the other grooms. The office became vacant in 1891, whenBrownlow Cecil, Baron Burghley was promoted to the similar political office ofVice-Chamberlain of the Household. The political office fell into disuse in 1892, since which time it has not been revived, although this did not affect the non-political, court position of Groom in Waiting.

• 1859Robert Nigel Fitzhardinge Kingscote (Liberal-West Gloucestershire)
• 1866Charles Hugh Lindsay (Conservative-Abingdon)
• 1869Algernon Fulke Greville (Liberal-Westmeath)
• 1874Donald Cameron (of Lochiel) (Conservative-Inverness-shire)
• 1880William Carington (Liberal-Wycombe)
• 1883William Henry Grenfell (Liberal-not MP at the time)
• 1883 SirGerard Smith (Liberal-Wycombe)
• 1885Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 4th Baronet (Conservative-Lewes)
• 1886Charles Robert Spencer (Liberal-Mid Northamptonshire)
• 1886Brownlow Cecil, Baron Burghley (Conservative-North Northamptonshire)
• 1891office vacant
• 1892office abolished

In Ordinary

Extra

• 17 July 1837–18 December 1842 General SirFrederick Augustus Wetherall
• 7 November 1842–15 December 1850 General SirWilliam Lumley
• 31 December 1844–3 June 1895Charles Augustus Murray
• 24 September 1859–3 May 1860 Lieutenant-General Berkeley Drummond
• 28 March 1860–16 August 1865 General SirFrederick Stovin
• 1 April 1861–26 December 1861 ColonelLord James Murray
• 26 December 1861–1 June 1867 ColonelFrancis Seymour
• 30 July 1866–22 January 1901 Lieutenant Walter George Stirling
• 24 February 1876–10 July 1890 Lieutenant GeneralFrancis Seymour
• 21 December 1877–11 March 1881 Lieutenant ColonelWilliam Cavendish
• 23 October 1878–22 March 1880 CaptainFleetwood Edwards
• 29 December 1882–14 December 1888 ColonelGeorge Liddell
• 13 April 1884–30 June 1884 Alexander Grantham Yorke
• 15 March 1888–22 January 1901 Major-General Thomas Dennehy
• 23 June 1891–31 December 1891 Admiral SirJohn Edmund Commerell
• 31 December 1891–15 January 1896 Admiral Lord Frederick Kerr
• 16 December 1895–22 January 1901 General SirMichael Biddulph

In Ordinary

Extra

• 23 July 1901–6 May 1910 The Hon. Alexander Grantham Yorke
• 23 July 1901–6 May 1910 Major-General Sir Thomas Dennehy
• 23 July 1901–1 April 1909 Sir Maurice Holzmann
• 23 July 1901–23 July 1905 General SirMichael Biddulph
• 23 October 1905–6 May 1910 Admiral SirJohn Fullerton
• 25 June 1909–6 May 1910 SirDonald Mackenzie Wallace

In Ordinary

Extra

• 10 June 1910–10 January 1919 SirDonald Mackenzie Wallace
• 10 June 1910–29 June 1918 Admiral SirJohn Fullerton
• 14 April 1916–17 April 1919 Sir Walter Campbell
• 1 May 1924–20 January 1936Montague Eliot
• 9 June 1931–20 January 1936 SirHarry Lloyd Verney

In Ordinary

No ordinary grooms-in-waiting were appointed to attendEdward VIII during his reign as King-Emperor.

Extra

• 21 July 1936–11 December 1936Montague Eliot
• 21 July 1936–11 December 1936 SirHarry Lloyd Verney
• 21 July 1936–11 December 1936 SirHarry Stonor
• 21 July 1936–11 December 1936 Major SirPhilip Hunloke
• 21 July 1936–11 December 1936 ColonelSir Victor Mackenzie, 3rd Baronet

In Ordinary

• 2 March 1937–11 December 1945 Rear-Admiral SirBasil Vernon Brooke
• 2 March 1937–3 August 1937 Commander SirHarold George Campbell^[12][13]
• 2 March 1937–6 February 1952 Arthur Horace Penn, Esq.
• 2 March 1937–30 January 1942 Colonel SirGeorge Sidney Herbert, Bart.
• 3 August 1937–6 February 1952 Captain Richard John Streatfeild (in the room of Commander Sir Harold George Campbell)^[14]
• 3 August 1937–6 February 1952 Brigadier-GeneralGeorge Paynter

Extra

• 2 March 1937–6 February 1952Montague Eliot
• 2 March 1937–28 February 1950 SirHarry Lloyd Verney
• 2 March 1937–5 May 1939 SirHarry Stonor
• 2 March 1937–1 April 1947 Major SirPhilip Hunloke
• 2 March 1937–18 April 1944 Colonel Sir Victor Mackenzie, Bart.
• 3 August 1937–27 November 1951 SirFrank Herbert Mitchell^[15]

In Ordinary

• 5 August 1952–30 December 1960 SirArthur Horace Penn^[16]

Extra

• 5 August 1952–19 September 1960Montague Eliot, 8th Earl of St Germans

• Database of Court Officers
• The Constitutional Year Book 1900 (William Blackstone & Sons 1900)
• Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume I 1832–1885, edited by M. Stenton (The Harvester Press 1976)

• Positions within the British Royal Household
• Gendered occupations