Master of the Household

The Master of the Household is the operational head (see Chief operating officer) of the "below stairs" elements of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. The role has charge of the domestic staff, from the Royal Kitchens, the pages and footmen, to the housekeeper and their staff. The appointment has its origin in the household reforms of 1539-40; it is under the (now purely nominal) supervision of the Lord Steward.

Since 2004 the Office of the Prince of Wales has included a Master of the Household.

History
Historically, the Master of the Household was a member of the Lord Steward's Department, and sat on the Board of Green Cloth. Among other duties, he presided at the daily dinners of the suite in waiting on the sovereign. The office is not named in the Black Book of Edward IV or in the Statutes of Henry VIII but is entered as Master of the Household and one of the clerks of the Green Cloth in the Household Book of Queen Elizabeth.

Initially there were four Masters of the Household, and they were working officers; but by the late 17th century there was a single Master and the post had become a sinecure. In 1782, when a number of household sinecures were abolished, the Master of the Household was given renewed responsibility for the management of the Lord Steward's Department; and under further reforms overseen by Prince Albert he was given charge of the entire domestic establishment.

In the 1920s, as part of a reconfiguration of the King's Household, the Lord Steward's Department was renamed the Master of the Household's Department. The Master of the Household chaired the Board of Green Cloth up until the time of its abolition in the early 21st century.

List of Masters of the Household

 * Richard Browne 1603–1604
 * Sir Robert Vernon bef. 1608 – c.1625
 * Charles Glemham c. 1625 – 1625
 * Roger Palmer 1626–1632
 * In abeyance 1632–1645
 * George Lisle c. 1645 – 1648
 * In abeyance? 1648–1660
 * Sir Herbert Price, 1st Baronet 1660–1665 and 1666–1678
 * Honourable Henry Bulkeley 1678–1688
 * Sir Thomas Felton, 4th Baronet 1689–1708
 * Edmund Dunch 1708–1712
 * Sir William Pole, 4th Baronet 1712–1714
 * Edmund Dunch 1714–1719
 * Sir Conyers Darcy, 1720–1730
 * Sir George Treby 1730–1741
 * Sir John Harris 1741–1767
 * The Right Honourable Henry Thynne 1768–1771
 * Sir Francis Henry Drake, 5th Baronet 1771–1794
 * Sir Henry Strachey, 1st Baronet 1794–1810
 * Sir William Kenrick 1810–1812
 * Samuel Hulse 1812–1827
 * Sir Frederick Beilby Watson 1827–1838
 * The Right Honourable Sir Charles Murray, 1838–1844
 * Captain Henry Meynell 1844–1845
 * Major-General Sir George Bowles 1845–1851
 * The Right Honourable General Sir Thomas Biddulph 1851–1866
 * The Right Honourable Major-General Sir John Cowell, 1866–1894
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton, 1894–1901
 * The Right Honourable Horace Farquhar, Lord Farquhar, 1901–1907 (later Earl Farquhar)
 * Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Arthur Andrew Frederick, 1907–1912
 * Lieutenant-Colonel The Honourable Sir Derek Keppel, 1913–1936
 * Brigadier Sir Smith Child, 2nd Baronet, 1936–1941
 * Lieutenant-Colonel The Honourable Sir Piers Legh, 1941–1953
 * Major Sir Mark Milbank, 4th Baronet, 1954–1967
 * Brigadier Sir Geoffrey Hardy-Roberts, 1967–1973
 * Vice-Admiral Sir Peter Ashmore, 1973–1986
 * Rear-Admiral Sir Paul Greening, 1986–1992
 * Major-General Sir Simon Cooper, 1992–2000
 * Vice-Admiral Sir Anthony Blackburn, 2000–2004
 * Air Marshal Sir David Walker, 2005–2013
 * Vice-Admiral Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt, 2013–

List of Deputy Masters of the Household

 * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Charles Arthur Andrew Frederick, 1901–1907
 * Harry Lloyd-Verney, 1907–1911
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Honourable Sir Derek Keppel, 1911–1912
 * Captain Lord Arthur John Hamilton 1913–1914
 * Honourable Sir Harry Stonor, 1918–1921
 * Captain Lord Claud Nigel Hamilton, 1922–1924
 * Brigadier-General Sir Smith Child, 2nd Baronet 1929–1936
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Ririd Myddelton, 1937–1939
 * Group Captain Peter Townsend, 1950–52
 * Major Sir Mark Milbank, 1952–1954
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Plunket, 1954–1975
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Blair Stewart-Wilson, 1976–1994
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Guy Acland, 1994–1999
 * Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Anthony Charles Richards, 1999–2023