Influential scholars such as Norbert Elias and Geoffrey Elton pointed at princely courts as promising areas of research, a call which began to be heeded in the 1970s and 1980s.

Thus, the Society for Court Studies was founded in London in September 1995 by David Starkey, Robert Oresko, Simon Thurley, and Philip Mansel.

[2] The launch was held at Banqueting House and attended by a wide range of scholars from different subjects, different stages in their careers, and different countries, emphasizing the multidisciplinary and international approach of court history.

The current President and Chairman of the Society since 2017 is Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly, who is a Fellow of Exeter College and Professor of German Literature at Oxford University.

The Society has organized and co-organized a number of conferences over the years such as "Princes Consort in History", "The Key to Power?