Lord Great Chamberlain of England
Incumbent Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington since 8 September 2022 Joint hereditary officeholders Cholmondeley share: The 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley (50%) Ancaster share: The 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby (25%) Carrington share: The 10th Earl of Albemarle (5%) Nicholas Llewellen Palmer (5%) Harry Legge-Bourke (5%) Lorraine Wilson (1.66%) Tatiana Dent (1.66%) Ines Garton (1.66%) The 8th Marquess of Donegall (1%) Jan Witold Kwiatkowski (1%) Mark Hamilton-Russell (1%) Christopher Findlay (1%) Michael Basset (1%) Last updated 14 February 2025
Style	The Right Honourable
Type	Great Officer of State
Appointer	TheMonarch
Term length	At His Majesty's pleasure
Formation	c. 1126
First holder	Robert Malet
Superseded by	Lord High Treasurer (in monetary affairs)
Succession	Hereditary
Salary	Unpaid

TheLord Great Chamberlain of England^[1] is the sixth of theGreat Officers of State, ranking beneath theLord Privy Seal but above theLord High Constable. The office of Lord Great Chamberlain was first created around 1126 and has been in continuous existence since 1138. The incumbent isRupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington.

The Lord Great Chamberlain is entrusted bythe Sovereign with custody of thePalace of Westminster, the seat of theBritish Parliament, and serves as his representative therein.^[2] From theRestoration until 1963, the Lord Great Chamberlain was responsible forphysical plant andfacility management throughout the Palace of Westminster, in effect serving as aproperty manager for the entire parliamentary estate.^[3] Today, the Lord Great Chamberlain enjoys plenary jurisdiction in those precincts of the Palace of Westminster not assigned to either theHouse of Lords or theHouse of Commons: namely, theRoyal Apartments,Central Lobby, and theCrypt Chapel. To this end, the Lord Great Chamberlain is responsible for the use, preservation, and occupation of such spaces. In addition, the Lord Great Chamberlain is one of the three commissioners who exercise joint control and maintenance overWestminster Hall; the other commissioners are theLord Speaker of the House of Lords and theSpeaker of the House of Commons.^[4]

The Lord Great Chamberlain performs other less routine functions as custodian of the Palace of Westminster. For example, the Lord Great Chamberlain welcomes foreign heads of state visiting the Palace of Westminster. Likewise, the Lord Great Chamberlain is responsible for attending upon the Sovereign and other members of theBritish royal family whenever any one of them is present on the parliamentary estate. In the latter case, the Lord Great Chamberlain is authorised to make any administrative arrangements necessary for delivery of services required by the Sovereign and their family.^[5][6]

However, the Lord Great Chamberlain’s most publicly visible parliamentary role is organisingstate openings of Parliament. In making the necessary arrangements, the Lord Great Chamberlain is assisted byBlack Rod and consults theEarl Marshal, who is responsible for preparing the Order of Ceremonial distributed to attendees and martialing the Sovereign's procession.^[7] On the day of the state opening, the Lord Great Chamberlain receives the Sovereign at theNorman Porch, enrobes him or her with theRobe of State and theImperial State Crown in theRobing Room, and participates in the Sovereign’s procession through theRoyal Gallery and thePrince's Chamber into theLords Chamber.^[8] It is also the Lord Great Chamberlain who, upon the command of the Sovereign, directs Black Rod to summon members of the House of Commons to attend the House of Lords for the purpose of hearing thespeech from the throne.^[9]

Parliamentary responsibilities aside, 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. Likewise, the Lord Great Chamberlain invests the monarch with the insignia of rule during the coronation service.^[10][11] On state occasions like coronations, the Lord Great Chamberlain wears a distinctive scarlet court uniform and bears a gold key and awhite staff as the insignia of his office.^[12]

The office of Lord Great Chamberlain is distinct from the non-hereditary office ofLord Chamberlain of the Household, a position in themonarch's household. This office arose in the 14th century as a deputy of the Lord Great Chamberlain to fulfil the latter's duties in the Royal Household, but now they are quite distinct.^{[citation needed]}

TheHouse of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right ofhereditary 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 theEarl Marshal) be exempt from such a rule, in order to perform ceremonial functions.^{[citation needed]}

The position is a hereditary one, held since 1780in gross.At any one time, no single person actually exercises the office of Lord Great Chamberlain.The various individuals who hold fractions of the office are properly eachJoint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain.They choose one individual of the rank of a knight or higher to be theDeputy Lord Great Chamberlain.^[13][14]Under an agreement made in 1912, the right to exercise the office for a given reign rotates among three families (of the then three joint office holders) in proportion 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.Whenever one of the three shares of the 1912 agreement is split further, the joint heirs of this share have to agree among each other, who should be their deputy or any mechanism to determine who of them has the right to choose a deputy.

The office was originally held byRobert Malet, a son of one of the leading companions ofWilliam the Conqueror. In 1133, however,Henry I declared Malet's estates and titles forfeit, and awarded the office of Lord Great Chamberlain toAubrey de Vere, whose son was createdEarl 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,John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford died, leaving his aunts as his heirs. The earldom was inherited by a more distant heir-male, his second cousin.Henry VIII then decreed that the office belonged tothe Crown, and was not transmitted along with the earldom. The King appointedJohn de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford to the office, but the appointment was deemed for life and was not hereditary. The family's association with the office was interrupted in 1540, when the 15th Earl died andThomas Cromwell, the King's chief adviser, was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain.^[15] After Cromwell'sattainder and execution later the same year, the office passed through a few more court figures, until 1553, when it was passed back to the de Vere family toJohn de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford, again as an uninheritable life appointment.^[16] Later,Mary I ruled that the Earls of Oxford were indeed entitled to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain on an hereditary basis.^{[citation needed]}

Thus, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth Earls of Oxford held the position on a hereditary basis until 1626, whenHenry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford died, again leaving a distant relative asheir male, but a closer one as a female heir. TheHouse of Lords eventually ruled that the office belonged to theheir general,Robert Bertie, 14th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, who later becameEarl of Lindsey. The office remained vested in the Earls of Lindsey, who later becameDukes of Ancaster and Kesteven.

In 1779, however,Robert Bertie, 4th Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven died, leaving two sisters as female heirs, and an uncle as an heir male. The uncle became the5th and last Duke, but the House of Lords ruled that the two sisters were jointly Lord Great Chamberlain and could appoint a Deputy to fulfil the functions of the office. The barony ofWilloughby de Eresby fell intoabeyance between the two sisters, butGeorge III terminated the abeyance and granted the title to the elder sister,Priscilla Bertie, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. The office of Lord Great Chamberlain, however, was divided between Priscilla and her younger sisterGeorgiana. 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 theMarquess of Cholmondeley, a title created forGeorgiana's husband.

In 1902 it was ruled by the House of Lords that the then joint office holders (Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster,George Cholmondeley, 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley, andCharles Wynn-Carington, 1st Earl Carrington, later Marquess of Lincolnshire) had to agree on a deputy to exercise the office, subject to the approval of the Sovereign. Should there be no such agreement, the Sovereign should appoint a deputy until an agreement be reached.^[14]

In 1912 an agreement was reached. The office, or right to appoint the person to exercise the office, would thereafter rotate among the three joint office holders and their heirs after them, changing at the start of each successive reign. Cholmondeley and his heirs would serve in every other reign; Ancaster and Carrington would each serve once in four reigns.^[17]

As the Cholmondeley share and the Ancaster share (held since 1983 byJane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby) are not further split, each of these holders decides in his or her turn to act as Lord Great Chamberlain or to name a person who will act as Lord Great Chamberlain. The Carrington share was divided at his death among his five daughters and their heirs, and has since been further divided, with 11 people holding shares as of September 2022. At accession of Charles III the turn fell to the Carrington heirs who named their cousinRupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington, to act as Lord Great Chamberlain.^[18][19][20] Being descended from the Earl's younger brother he himself has no share of the office.

On 6 May 2023, the Lord Great Chamberlain presented spurs to KingCharles III as part ofCharles' coronation. The spurs were included among the first English coronation ornaments in 1189 and were used during the coronation ofRichard I.^[21]

Portrait	Name	Term of office		Monarch (reign)
	Robert Malet	1130	1133	Henry I (1100–1135)
	Aubrey de Vere II	1133	1141
				Stephen (1135–1154)
	Aubrey de Vere 1stEarl of Oxford	1141	1194
				Henry II (1154–1189)
				Richard I (1189–1199)
	Aubrey de Vere 2ndEarl of Oxford	1194	1214
				John (1199–1216)
	Robert de Vere 3rdEarl of Oxford	1214	1221
				Henry III (1216–1272)
	Hugh de Vere 4thEarl of Oxford	1221	1263
	Robert de Vere 5thEarl of Oxford	1263	1265
	unclear, perhaps vacant	1265	1267
	unclear, perhaps again Robert de Vere 5thEarl of Oxford	1267	1296
				Edward I (1272–1307)
	Robert de Vere 6thEarl of Oxford	1296	1331
				Edward II (1307–1327)
				Edward III (1327–1377)
	John de Vere 7thEarl of Oxford	1331	1360
	Thomas de Vere 8thEarl of Oxford	1360	1371
	Robert de Vere Duke of Ireland	1371	1388
				Richard II (1377–1399)
	John Holland 1stDuke of Exeter	1398	1399
	Aubrey de Vere 10thEarl of Oxford	1399	1400	Henry IV (1399–1413)
	Richard de Vere 11thEarl of Oxford	1400	1417
				Henry V (1413–1422)
	John de Vere 12thEarl of Oxford	1417	1462
				Henry VI (1422–1461)
				Edward IV (1461–1470)
	John de Vere 13thEarl of Oxford	1462	1464
	Richard Neville 16thEarl of Warwick	1464[22]	1471
				Henry VI (1470–1471)
	unclear	1471	1475	Edward IV (1471–1483)
	Henry Percy 4thEarl of Northumberland	1475	1485
				Edward V (1483)
				Richard III (1483–1485)
	John de Vere 13thEarl of Oxford	1485[23]	1513	Henry VII (1485–1509)
				Henry VIII (1509–1547)
	John de Vere 14thEarl of Oxford	1513	1526
	John de Vere 15thEarl of Oxford	1526	1540
	Thomas Cromwell 1stEarl of Essex	1540	1540
	Robert Radcliffe 1stEarl of Sussex	1540[24]	1542
	Edward Seymour 1stDuke of Somerset	1543[25]	1547
	John Dudley 1stDuke of Northumberland	1547[26]	1549	Edward VI (1547–1553)
	William Parr 1stMarquess of Northampton	1549[26]	1553
	John de Vere 16thEarl of Oxford	1553	1562	Mary I (1553–1558)
				Elizabeth I (1558–1603)
	Edward de Vere 17thEarl of Oxford	1562	1604
				James I (1603–1625)
	Henry de Vere 18thEarl of Oxford	1604	1625
	Robert Bertie 1stEarl of Lindsay	1625	1642	Charles I (1625–1649)
	Montagu Bertie 2ndEarl of Lindsay	1642	1666
				Interregnum (1649–1660)
				Charles II (1660–1685)
	Robert Bertie 3rdEarl of Lindsay	1666	1701
				James II (1685–1688)
				Mary II (1689–1694) William III (1689–1702)
	Robert Bertie 1stDuke of Ancaster and Kesteven	1701	1723
				Anne (1702–1714)
				George I (1714–1727)
	Peregrine Bertie 2ndDuke of Ancaster and Kesteven	1723	1742
				George II (1727–1760)
	Peregrine Bertie 3rdDuke of Ancaster and Kesteven	1742	1778
				George III (1760–1820)
	Robert Bertie 4thDuke of Ancaster and Kesteven	1778	1779

The fractions show the holder's share in the office, and the date they held it. The current (as of 2022^[update]) holders of the office are shown inbold face.

Portrait	Name	Term of office		Monarch (reign)
	Peter Burrell 1stBaron Gwydyr	1780	1820	George III (1760–1820)
				George IV (1820–1830)
	Peter Drummond-Burrell 22ndBaron Willoughby de Eresby	1821	1830
	George Cholmondeley 2ndMarquess of Cholmondeley	1830	1837	William IV (1830–1837)
	Peter Drummond-Burrell 22ndBaron Willoughby de Eresby	1837	1865	Victoria (1837–1901)
	Albyric Drummond-Willoughby 23rdBaron Willoughby de Eresby	1865	1870
	Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby 25thBaron Willoughby de Eresby	1871	1901
	George Cholmondeley 4thMarquess of Cholmondeley	1901	1910	Edward VII (1901–1910)
	Charles Wynn-Carington 1stMarquess of Lincolnshire	1910	1928	George V (1910–1936)
	William Legge Viscount Lewisham	1928	1936
	George Cholmondeley 5thMarquess of Cholmondeley	1936		Edward VIII (1936)
	Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby 2ndEarl of Ancaster	1936	1951	George VI (1936–1952)
	James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby 3rdEarl of Ancaster	1951	1952
	George Cholmondeley 5thMarquess of Cholmondeley	1952	1966	Elizabeth II (1952–2022)
	Hugh Cholmondeley 6thMarquess of Cholmondeley	1966	1990
	David Cholmondeley 7thMarquess of Cholmondeley	1990	2022
	Rupert Carington 7thBaron Carrington	2022	present	Charles III (2022–present)

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lord Great Chamberlain".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

• www.debretts.com
• 1965 decisions regarding the Lord Great Chamberlain's responsibilities in the Palace of Westminster
• Planning Act 2008, s. 227(5)(h,i)
• Principal Office Holders in the House of Lords. House of Lords Library Note (LLN 2015/007), includes a very brief overview of the Lord Great Chamberlain
• www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk
• UK Parliamentary Archives, Records of the Lord Great Chamberlain

• Constitution of the United Kingdom
• Ceremonial officers in the United Kingdom
• Lord Great Chamberlains

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