A royal household or imperial household is the residence and administrative headquarters in ancient and post-classical monarchies , and papal household for popes , and formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and their relations. It was the core of the royal court , though this included many courtiers who were not directly employed by the monarch as part of the household.
17-457: There were often 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. The households typically included military forces providing security. Specialists such as artists, clock-makers and poets might be given a place in the household, often by appointing them as valet de chambre or
34-439: A coach or carriage. Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman delivered messages. He might run beside or behind the carriages of aristocrats, running alongside the coach to make sure it was not overturned by such obstacles as ditches or tree roots. A footman might also run ahead to the destination to prepare for his lord's arrival. The name
51-550: A common position in great houses , the footman became much rarer after World War I as fewer households could afford large retinues . The role is now virtually a historic one, although servants with this designation are still employed in the British Royal Household , wearing a distinctive scarlet livery on state occasions. Great house A great house is a large house or mansion with luxurious appointments and great retinues of indoor and outdoor staff. The term
68-550: A footman was for show as much as for work, his good looks were highly prized, including a tall stature and well-turned legs, shown off by the traditional footman's dress of stockings below knee breeches . Footmen were expected to be unmarried and tended to be relatively young; they might, however, progress to other posts, notably that of butler. One 19th-century footman, William Tayler, kept a diary which has been published. He was, in fact, married, but he kept it secret from his employers and visited his family only on his days off. Once
85-533: 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. Auxiliary organs of the Agency include: Local branch office: The royal households of such of European monarchies have a continuous history since medieval times. Footmen A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend
102-416: Is that the family occupying the great house were outnumbered, often greatly so, by their staff. There was often an elaborate hierarchy among domestic workers , probably most familiar to people today through television dramas such as Downton Abbey . As in the past, today's great houses are limited to heads of state , the very rich, or those who have inherited them; few in the developed world are staffed at
119-566: Is used mainly historically, especially of properties at the turn of the 20th century, i.e., the late Victorian or Edwardian era in the United Kingdom and the Gilded Age in the United States. There is no precise definition of "great house", and the understanding varies among countries. In England, while most villages would have had a manor house since time immemorial , originally home of
136-496: The family seat . In Ireland, the term big house is usual for the houses of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy . In the United States, great houses can be found on streets known informally as " millionaires' mile " (or "row") in certain cities. In Jamaica, "great house" is the standard term for the house at the centre of plantation life, what in the United States is called a plantation house . One commonality between countries
153-406: The housemaid to clean behind. The footmen might also double as valets , especially for visiting guests. Male servants were paid more than female servants and footmen were something of a luxury and therefore a status symbol even among the servant-employing classes. They performed a less essential role than the cook , maid or even butler , and were employed only by the grandest households. Since
170-417: The lord of the manor and sometimes referred to as "the big house", not all would have anything as lavish as a traditional English country house , one of the traditional markers of an established "county" family that derived at least a part of its income from landed property . Stately homes , even rarer and more expensive, were associated with the peerage , not the gentry . Many mansions were demolished in
187-708: The modern period , royal households have evolved into entities which are variously differentiated from national governments . Most modern households have become merely titular . In Japan, the Imperial Household Agency (宮内庁, Kunaichō) is the agency within the Government of Japan responsible for supporting the Emperor and the Imperial Family as well as keeping the Privy Seal and Great Seal of Japan. The Agency
SECTION 10
#1732837498154204-432: The 20th century , since families that had previously split their time between their country house and their town house found the maintenance of both too expensive. Many properties are now open to the public as historic house museums , either run by their ancestral owners on a commercial basis, or having been given to English Heritage or similar organisations. Others operate as hotels and wedding venues. Some still serve as
221-412: The duties of management between them. The head of the household is not the butler, but the house manager. An estate manager administers more than one property, and usually has financial and managerial background. Practices vary depending on the size of the household and the preference of the employers, but in general the staff is divided into departments run by the following staff: Sources: For
238-407: The latter's absence, although some larger houses also had an under-butler above the first footman. In a larger household, various footmen might be assigned specific duties (for which there might be a traditional sequence), such as the silver specialist. Usually the footmen performed a range of duties which included serving meals, opening and closing doors, carrying heavy items, or moving furniture for
255-471: The level of past centuries. Nowadays, the International Guild of Butlers estimates that the annual salaries of a 20–25 person household staff total in excess of US$ 1,000,000. On large estates or in families with more than one residence, there may be a steward (or the modern equivalent, an estate manager) who oversees direction of the entire establishment. Today, it is not uncommon for a couple to split
272-488: The local equivalent. Among many of these households there are certain great offices which have become, in course of time, merely hereditary . 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. In
289-487: Was applied to a household servant who waited at table and attended, rode on his employer's coach or carriage in case of untoward incidents. In many cases, a footman was expected to serve as an armed bodyguard. Many were skilled with pistols to defend their employer's coach against highwaymen . The first footman was the designation given to the highest-ranking servant of this class in a given household. The first footman would serve as deputy butler and act as butler in
#153846