Lady-in-waiting

Lady-in-waiting or court lady is often a generic term for women whose relative rank, title, and official functions varied, although such distinctions were also often honorary.

During the Carolingian Empire, in the 9th century, Hincmar describes the royal household of Charles the Bald in the De Ordine Palatii, from 882, in which he states that court officials took orders from the queen as well as the king.

[2] From small circle of married Femmes and unmarried Filles, with a relatively humble place in the background during the Middle Ages, the number of French ladies-in-waiting were rapidly expanded, divided into an advanced hierarchy with several offices and given an important and public role to play in the new ceremonial court life in early 16th century France.

[3][page needed] In the early and mid-16th century, the female courtiers kept by female Habsburgs in the Netherlands and Austria was composed of one Hofmesterees (Court Mistress) or Dame d'honneur who served as the principal lady-in-waiting; one Hofdame or Mere de Filles, who was second in rank and deputy of the Hofmesterees, as well as being in charge of the Eredames (Maids of Honour), also known as Demoiselle d'honneur, Fille d'honneur or Junckfrauen depending on language (Dutch, French and Austrian German respectively), and finally the Kamenisters (Chamber Maids).

[5] The rest of the female noble courtiers consisted of the Hoffräulein (Maid of Honour), unmarried women from the nobility who normally served temporarily until marriage.

In Cambodia, the term ladies-in-waiting refers to high ranking female servants who served food and drink, fanned and massaged, and sometimes provided sexual services to the king.

The six favorite court ladies of King Sisowath of Cambodia were probably initially drawn from the ranks of classical royal dancers of the lower class.

[9][page needed] The emperors of the Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) are reported to have had a harem of thousands of 'palace women', although the actual numbers are unconfirmed.

[9] At least during the Song dynasty (960–1279), palace women were divided in three groups: imperial women (consisting of concubines and consorts), imperial daughters (consisting of daughters and sisters of the emperor), and the female officials and assistants, who performed a wide range of tasks and could potentially be promoted to the rank of concubine or consort.

[21] Overall, living conditions and punishments for misbehaving eventually grew so bad that there was an assassination attempt against the Jiajing Emperor by a group of serving women.

[27][page needed] During the Qing dynasty, imperial women were selected from among the teenage daughters of the Manchu official banner families, who were drafted to an inspection before they could marry.

[2] The introduction of ladies-in-waiting increased in great numbers at the French court at this time: from a mere five in 1286 and still only 23 in 1490, to 39 in 1498 and roughly 54 during the 16th century.

[36] The Dama d'Onore was nominally the chief lady-in-waiting, but in practice often limited her service to state occasions; the Dame di Corte was the regular lady-in-waiting who personally attended to the queen, while the Dame di Palazzo were honorary courtiers attached to the royal palaces in particular cities, such as Florence, Turin, and so forth, and only served temporary when the queen visited the city in question: among these, only the Dame di Palazzo attached to the royal palace of the capital of Rome served more than temporary.

[38][page needed] During the Heian period (794–1185) women could hold court offices of substantial responsibility, managing the affairs of the emperor.

[39][page needed] During the Sengoku period (1467–1603), the highest rank of a lady-in-waiting was the 'Female Assistant to the Major Counselor', who ran the affairs of the daily life of the Imperial Household.

[38] The second rank was Koto No Naishi (Female Palace Attendant), who acted as intermediary between the emperor and those seeking an audience and issued his wishes in writing.

Gungnyeo consisted of the ladies-in-waiting—both high-ranking court ladies and the ordinary maids (known as nain) responsible for most of the labour work—who were divided into ranks from 9 to 5 (the ranks from 4 to 1 were the official concubines of the king), with two levels each (senior and junior), the highest attainable rank being sanggung (senior 5th),[41] as well as other types of working women who were not included in the classification, such as musuri (women from the lowest class who did odd jobs, such as drawing water and distributing firewood), gaksimi (also known as bija and bangja, who were personal servants of a sanggung), sonnim (literally translated to 'guest', were maids brought in the palace to work for the royal concubines, most of the time connected to the families of the concubines) and uinyeo (selected from public female slaves, they worked at the royal infirmary or public clinics, and practiced simple medicine skills).

Generally, the ladies-in-waiting were chosen from among the young girls of the sangmin (commoners) and the private female slaves of the sadaebu (governing class).

The appointment process was different for nain associated with the inner quarters for the king and queen, who were recruited by the high ranked court ladies themselves, through recommendations and connections.

[3] In the 16th century, the ladies-in-waiting in the courts of the Habsburg governors of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary, were composed of one Hofmeesteres (Court Mistress) or Dame d'honneur who served as the principal lady-in-waiting; one Hofdame or Mere de Filles, who was second in rank and deputy of the Hofmeesteres as well as being in charge of the Eredames (Maids of Honour), also known as Demoiselle d'honneur, Fille d'honneur or Junckfrauen, and finally the Kameniersters (Chamber Maids), all with different titles depending on language in the multilingual area of the Netherlands.

A number of tribes and cultural areas in the African continent, such as the Lobedu people of Southern Africa, had a similar custom of ladies-in-waiting in historic times.

As a further example, within certain pre-colonial states of the Bini and Yoruba peoples in Nigeria, the queen mothers and high priestesses were considered "ritually male" due to their social eminence.

Although these women effectively functioned as ladies-in-waiting, were often members of powerful families of the local nobility in their own right, and were not usually used for sexual purposes, they were nonetheless referred to as their principals' "wives".

[6] In 1774, the post of Statsfru (Mistress of the State) was introduced, which was the title for the group of married ladies-in-waiting with a rank between the Hovmästarinna and the Kammarfröken.

Ladies-in-waiting are routinely appointed by junior female members of the royal family, to accompany them on public engagements and provide other support and assistance.

[56] On more formal occasions ladies in waiting wear a badge of office, which usually takes the form of a jewelled or enamelled monogram of the relevant member of the royal family beneath the appropriate crown or coronet, suspended from a coloured ribbon.

[56] During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, one of the women of the bedchamber was always in daily attendance; each served for a fortnight at a time, in rotation.

[67] As of 30 November 2022[update] her companions are:[67] In the Middle Ages, Margaret of France is noted to have had seven ladies-in-waiting: three married ones, who were called Domina, and four unmarried maids of honour, but no principal lady-in-waiting is mentioned,[68] and until the 15th century, the majority of the officeholders of the queen's household were still male.

[70][page needed] Elizabeth of York had numerous ladies-in-waiting, which was reported by the Spanish ambassador, Rodrigo de Puebla, as something unusual and astonishing: "the Queen has thirty-two ladies, very magnificent and in splendid style".

They had to accompany her wherever she went, to entertain her with music, dance or singing and to dress, bathe and help her use the toilet, since a royal person, by the standards of the day, was not supposed to do anything for herself, but was always to be waited upon in all daily tasks as a sign of their status.