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

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by the head of state, head of a sovereign state, sovereign country (or Governor-general, representative of the head of a sovereign country) to another sovereign country, at the invitation of the head of state (or ...

s, investitures, 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 and other royal symbols. As the Lord Chamberlain is a part-time position, the day-to-day work of the Office is conducted by the

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

of the Lord Chamberlain's Office.

List of comptrollers

* Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane (1857–1901) * Major-General Sir Arthur Ellis (1901–1907) * Brigadier-General Sir Douglas Dawson (1907–1920) *

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), 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 colon ...

Sir George Crichton (1920–1936) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Terence Nugent (1936–1960) *

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

Sir Norman Gwatkin (1960–1964) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Eric Penn (1964–1981) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Johnston (1981–1987) * Lieutenant-Colonel George Alston-Roberts-West (1987–1990) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Malcolm Ross (1991–2005) * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Ford (2006–2018) * Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Vernon (2019–present)

Theatre censorship

The Lord Chamberlain's Office had a more significant role (under the Theatres Act 1843) 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 in 1909 and 1911. Some plays were not licensed in the 1930s, during the period of

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

, because they were critical of the regime in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

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'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. Rowland Baring, 2nd Earl of Cromer, then Lord Chamberlain, consulted the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

regularly 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 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'' played a large role in the build up to the

Theatres Act 1968 The Theatres Act 1968 (c. 54) abolished stage censorship in the United Kingdom, receiving royal assent on 26 July 1968, after passing both Houses of Parliament.William Gaskill 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 The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, eight MP's, 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
Monarchy of the United Kingdom Censorship in the arts Theatre controversies Censorship in the United Kingdom Theatre of the United Kingdom Positions within the British Royal Household