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A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the
At her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II had six maids of honour who attended her throughout the ceremony, especially carrying the trains of her robes. They were:
* Lady Moyra Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton;
* Lady Anne Coke, daughter of Thomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester;
* Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart, daughter of
lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Role
Traditionally, a queen regnant had eight maids of honour, while a queen consort had four; Queen Anne Boleyn, however, had over 60. A maid of honour was a maiden, meaning that she had never been married (and therefore was ostensibly a virgin), and was usually young and a member of the nobility. Maids of honour were commonly in their sixteenth year or older, althoughLady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553.
Jane was ...
served as a maid of honour to Queen Catherine Parr
Catherine Parr (sometimes alternatively spelled Katherine, Katheryn, Kateryn, or Katharine; 1512 – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until ...
in about 1546–48, when Jane was only about ten to twelve years old. Under Mary I and Elizabeth I, maids of honour were at court as a kind of finishing school, with the hope of making a good marriage. Elizabeth Knollys
Elizabeth Knollys, Lady Leighton (15 June 1549 – c.1605), was an English courtier who served Queen Elizabeth I of England, first as a Maid of Honour and secondly, after 1566, as a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber. Knollys was the grand-niece of ...
was a maid of the court at the age of nine.
Some of the maids of honour were paid, while others were not. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the term ''maid of honour in waiting'' was sometimes used.
The queen mother often also had maids of honour. In 1912, for example, Ivy Gordon-Lennox was appointed a maid of honour to Queen Alexandra.
In 1912, King George V granted maids of honour the style of The Honourable, with precedence next after daughters of barons.
At her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II had six maids of honour who attended her throughout the ceremony, especially carrying the trains of her robes. They were:
* Lady Moyra Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton;
* Lady Anne Coke, daughter of Thomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester;
* Lady Jane Vane-Tempest-Stewart, daughter of Robin Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry
Edward Charles Stewart Robert Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry, (18 November 1902 – 17 October 1955), styled Lord Stewart until 1915 and Viscount Castlereagh between 1915 and 1946, was a British peer and politician.
Early ...
;
* Lady Mary Baillie-Hamilton, daughter of George Baillie-Hamilton, 12th Earl of Haddington;
* Lady Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, daughter of James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster; and
* Lady Rosemary Spencer-Churchill, daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough.
Terminology
A ''lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
'' is a woman who attends a female member of the Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
other than the queen regnant or queen consort. An attendant upon one of the latter is a '' Lady of the Bedchamber'' or '' Woman of the Bedchamber'', and the senior lady-in-waiting is the '' Mistress of the Robes''. The women of the bedchamber are in regular attendance, but the mistress of the robes and the ladies of the bedchamber are normally only required for ceremonial occasions.
The term ''maid of honour'' is the origin of the American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
term '' maid of honor,'' usually the best friend of a bride who leads her bridal party
A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maid of Honour Positions within the British Royal Household