A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the

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 A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns '' suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigni ...

had eight maids of honour, while a queen consort had four; Queen

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key f ...

, however, had over 60. A maid of honour was a maiden, meaning that she had never been married (and therefore was ostensibly a

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

), and was usually young and a member of the nobility. Maids of honour were commonly in their sixteenth year or older, although

Lady 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 Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

and

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, 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 A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

often also had maids of honour. In 1912, for example, Ivy Gordon-Lennox was appointed a maid of honour to

Queen Alexandra Alexandra of Denmark (Alexandra Caroline Marie Charlotte Louise Julia; 1 December 1844 – 20 November 1925) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 22 January 1901 to 6 May 1910 as the wife of ...

. In 1912, King George V granted maids of honour the style of

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 certa ...

, with precedence next after daughters of barons. Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - Couronnement de la Reine Elizabeth II (7195940764) (cropped)

At her

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of o ...

, Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

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 ''

'' 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 pa ...

other than the queen regnant or queen consort. An attendant upon one of the latter is a ''

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

'' or ''

Woman of the Bedchamber In the Royal Household of the United Kingdom the term Woman of the Bedchamber is used to describe a woman (usually a daughter of a peer) attending either a queen regnant or queen consort, in the role of lady-in-waiting. Historically the term 'Ge ...

'', and the senior lady-in-waiting is the ''

Mistress of the Robes The mistress of the robes was the senior lady in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. Formerly responsible for the queen consort's/regnant's clothes and jewellery (as the name implies), the post had the responsibility for arranging the rota ...

''. 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 varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...

term ''

maid of honor Bridesmaids are members of the bride's party in a Western traditional wedding ceremony. A bridesmaid is typically a young woman and often a close friend or relative. She attends to the bride on the day of a wedding or marriage ceremony. Tradit ...

,'' 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