Mother of the Maids (English royal court)

Mother of the Maids was a position at the English royal court. The Mother of the Maids was responsible for the well-being and decorum of maids of honour, young gentlewomen in the household of a queen regnant or queen consort.

Anne of Cleves brought a household with her to England, and in 1540 "Mother Lowe" was the mother of the "Dowche Maydes". Anne Poyntz was given a "billiment" head dress to wear at the coronation of Mary I of England, and took part in the Royal Entry. At the coronation of Elizabeth I in 1559 there were six maids of honour under the Mother of the Maids.

In 1632, the Mother of Maids, Ursula Beaumont, and six maids of honour at the court of Henrietta Maria took part in the masque The Shepherd's Paradise. When one of the maids, Eleanor Villiers, a daughter of Edward Villiers, was pregnant, she, her partner Henry Jermyn, and Beaumont, Mother of the Maids, were imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Mothers of the maids

 * Elizabeth Chamber of Stonor, to the consorts of Henry VIII.
 * Mistress Marshall, household of Anne Boleyn.
 * Mother Lowe, household of Anne of Cleves.
 * Anne Poyntz (died 1554), household of Mary I of England.
 * Elizabeth Hutton, household of Mary I.
 * Dorothy Broughton, household of Mary I in 1557, may have been Dorothy, the wife of Sir Robert Broughton and the sister of Margery Wentworth, and through her the aunt of Jane Seymour.
 * Mistress Morris, household of Elizabeth I in 1558.
 * Kat Ashley or Katherine Ashley, household of Elizabeth I
 * Anne Aglionby, household of Elizabeth I
 * Elizabeth Hyde, household of Elizabeth I, in 1575.
 * Elizabeth Jones, household of Elizabeth I, with Blanche Parry in 1571.
 * Katherine Bridges, household of Anne of Denmark.   She received a free gift of £100 in 1611.
 * Elizabeth or Ursula Beaumont, household of Henrietta Maria.
 * Bridget Sanderson, wife of William Sanderson of the king's privy chamber, a daughter of Edward Tyrrell, household of Catherine of Braganza.