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Aroyal household orimperial household is the residence and administrative headquarters inancient andpost-classicalmonarchies, andpapal household forpopes, and formed the basis for the generalgovernment of the country as well as providing for the needs of thesovereign and their relations. It is the core of theroyal court, though a court includes many courtiers who are not directly employed by the monarch as part of the household.
Traditionally there often have been large numbers of employees in the household, strictly differentiated by rank, from nobles with highly sought-after positions that gave close access to the monarch, to all the usual servants such as cooks,footmen, and maids. Traditionally the household typically includes military forces providing security. Specialists such as artists, clock-makers and poets might be given a place in the household, often by appointing them asvalet de chambre or the local equivalent.
Among many of these households there are certain great offices which have become, in course of time, merelyhereditary. In most cases, as the name of the office would suggest, they were held by those who discharged personal functions about the sovereign. Gradually, in ways or for reasons which might vary in each individual case, the office alone survived, the duties either ceasing to be necessary or being transferred to officers of less exalted station.[1]
In themodern period, royal households have evolved into entities which are variously differentiated fromnational governments. Most modern households have become merelytitular. An example of a present-day royal household that employs hundreds of people, with many job descriptions, is thehousehold of Charles III.
In Japan, the Imperial Household Agency (宮内庁, Kunaichō) is the agency within theGovernment of Japan responsible for supporting theEmperor and theImperial Family as well as keeping thePrivy Seal andGreat Seal of Japan.
The Agency is headed by a director-general, who is assisted by the Cabinet-appointed deputy director. The internal organisation of the Agency can be seen below.[2]
Auxiliary organs of the Agency include:
Local branch office:
The royal households of such ofEuropean monarchies have a continuous history since medieval times.
*1. Supreme Officers of the Court (Oberste Hofchargen) - honorary functions
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Household, Royal".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 813–814.