Lord Steward

In the modern period, Lord Stewards (up to and including Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland in 1973) were invariably made Privy Counsellors on appointment.

The incumbent Lord Steward (appointed in 2023) is Peter St Clair-Erskine, 7th Earl of Rosslyn[8] (who additionally serves as Personal Secretary to Their Majesties The King and Queen).

[12] By that time it had become the norm to appoint separate Stewards of the Household to undertake the practical duties of the office (so de Montfort came to be referred to, by contrast, as 'Steward of all England').

[13] During the reign of King Edward IV, the duties, privileges and precedence of the Lord Steward were comprehensively enumerated in the Black Book of the Household (compiled in the early 1470s).

[2] The sub-departments below stairs were mostly concerned with catering, including the royal kitchens and cellars, and various provisioning departments such as the buttery, spicery, confectionery, bakehouse, scalding house and so forth.

[7] Each was managed by its own staff of yeomen and grooms, and headed by a gentleman or sergeant; the Lord Steward exercised rights of patronage over these positions.

By the time of the Restoration, the administration of the Lord Steward's Department was for the most part delegated to the Board of Green Cloth,[7] which served as the central accounting and organisational facility.

[21] Apart from the Lord Steward, the Board consisted of the Treasurer, the Comptroller and the Master of the Household (all of which were sinecure positions in the 17th and 18th centuries), the Cofferer (who had executive financial and accounting responsibilities), and a number of clerks and clerk comptrollers (who, in consultation with the Lord Steward, managed the day-to-day running of the household below stairs).

[23] On this basis the Lord Steward acted as principal judge for all offences committed within the Verge of the Royal Court, having both civil and (in earlier years) criminal jurisdiction.

[26][27] "He hath the office to call the names of Knights, Citizens and Burgesses, at the Parliament door, the first day of commencement, and to amerce such as fail by the certificate" (The Black Book of the Household, 1471–72).

)[28] In the Tudor period he was responsible for taking the roll call of all the Knights and Burgesses who had been elected to represent the Commons in Parliament, prior to each State Opening.

At the Beginning of Parliaments he attends the King's Person, and administers the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to the several Members of the House of Commons, and at the Ends of Parliaments, he adjudgeth the Parliamentary Expenses &c."[32]The Lord Steward's developing role in government, however, led to increased absences from the Court, which (among other things) led to a number of reforms being introduced.

[34] Following Queen Victoria's accession to the throne, her husband Prince Albert took a keen interest in reforming the Royal Household of its complexities and inefficiencies.