The Lord Chamberlain's Office is a department within the British Royal Household. It is concerned with matters such as protocol, state visits,

investiture Investiture (from the Latin preposition ''in'' and verb ''vestire'', "dress" from ''vestis'' "robe") is a formal installation or ceremony that a person undergoes, often related to membership in Christian religious institutes as well as Christian k ...

s, garden parties, royal weddings and funerals. For example, in April 2005 it organised the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles. It is also responsible for authorising use of the Royal Arms. As the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

is a part-time position the day-to-day work of the Office is conducted by the Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office.

List of Comptrollers

* Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane GCB

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

(1857–1901) *

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir Arthur Ellis, GCVO MC (1901–1907) * Brigadier-General Sir Douglas Dawson, GCVO KCB CMG (1907–1920) *

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

the

Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certai ...

Sir George Crichton, GCVO DL (1920–1936) *

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Sir Terence Nugent, GCVO MC (1936–1960) * Brigadier Sir Norman Gwatkin, GCVO DSO (1960–1964) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Eric Penn, GCVO OBE MC (1964–1981) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Johnston, GCVO MC (1981–1987) * Lieutenant-Colonel George Alston-Roberts-West, CVO DL (1987–1990) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Malcolm Ross, GCVO OBE (1991–2005) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Ford, GCVO (2006–2018) * Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Vernon (2019 - Present)

Theatre censorship

The

's Office had a more significant role (under the

Theatres Act 1843 The Theatres Act 1843 (6 & 7 Vict., c. 68) (also known as the Theatre Regulation Act) is a defunct Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It amended the regime established under the Licensing Act 1737 for the licensing of the theatre in Great B ...

) in British society prior to 1968, as it was the official censor for virtually all theatre performed in Britain. Commercial theatre owners were generally satisfied by the safety this arrangement gave them; so long as they presented only licensed plays they were effectively immune from prosecution for any offence a play might cause. There were campaigns by playwrights, however, in opposition to the Lord Chamberlain's censorship, such as those involving

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succ ...

in 1909 and 1911. Some plays were not licensed in the 1930s, during the period of appeasement, because they were critical of the German Nazi regime and it was feared that allowing certain plays to be performed might alienate what was still thought of as a friendly government. This included

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

's ''Follow My Leader'', which was submitted to the Lord Chamberlain's office in 1938 but was not granted a license due to its farcical depiction of the German government "not being in the best interests of the country". It was not granted a license until 1940 following the end of appeasement.

Lord Cromer Earl of Cromer is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, held by members of the Baring family, of German descent. It was created for Evelyn Baring, 1st Viscount Cromer, long time British Consul-General in Egypt. He had already been cr ...

, then Lord Chamberlain, regularly consulted the Foreign Office and sometimes, the German Embassy. In the latter case, the submissions were intended to be read by a "friendly German". By the 1960s, there were many playwrights and producers who wished to produce controversial works such as '' Lady Chatterley's Lover''. Theatre companies such as the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

came into open conflict with the Lord Chamberlain's Office. Sometimes they would resort to such measures as declaring themselves private clubs for the performance of certain plays. Edward Bond's '' Saved'' and John Osborne's ''

A Patriot for Me ''A Patriot for Me'' is a 1965 play by the English playwright John Osborne, based on the true story of Alfred Redl. The controversial refusal of a performance licence by the Lord Chamberlain's Office played a role in the passage of the Theatres ...

'' played a large role in the build up to the Theatres Act 1968. The Lord Chamberlain's Office technically had jurisdiction over private performances, but had generally avoided getting involved with bona-fide private clubs until ''Saved''. While they had cause for prosecution, there was a fear that this would call into question theatre censorship as a whole. This is precisely what happened after the Royal Court Theatre was prosecuted. Director

William Gaskill William "Bill" Gaskill (24 June 1930 – 4 February 2016) was a British theatre director who was "instrumental in creating a new sense of realism in the theatre". Described as "a champion of new writing", he was also noted for his productions of B ...

was discharged and the company were fined but the publicity surrounding the case called into question the necessity of the Lord Chamberlain's role in theatre. The 1966 Joint Select Committee was set up to discuss possible changes to the Theatres Act following the dissatisfaction with how theatre censorship was being handled. It included eight representatives of the House of Lords, eight commoners, and witnesses of varying theatrical backgrounds, including Peter Hall. The committee met between 1966 and 1967 over the course of sixteen meetings and it eventually resulted in the abolition of the role of official censor in the Theatres Act 1968.

References

Bibliography

* *{{cite book , author=Nicholson, Steve , title=The Censorship of British Drama 1900-1968, Volume One 1900-1932 , publisher = University of Exeter Press , year= 2015, isbn=9780859896382

External links

The British Monarchy – The Lord Chamberlain's Office
British monarchy Censorship in the arts Theatre controversies Censorship in the United Kingdom Theatre in the United Kingdom Positions within the British Royal Household