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'''Groom of the Chamber''' was a position in the [[Royal Household|Household]] of the [[Kingdom of England|monarch]] in [[early modern]] England. Other ''[[Ancien Régime]]'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the [[Duchy of Burgundy]], and in England while French was still the language of the court, the title was varlet or [[valet de chambre]]. In German, Danish and Russian the term was "Kammerjunker" and in Swedish the similar "Kammarjunkare".
 
In England after [[the Restoration]], appointments in the King's Household included '''Groom of the Great Chamber''', '''Groom of the Privy Chamber''' and '''Groom of the Bedchamber'''.<ref name="BHO">{{cite web |last1=Bucholz |first1=R. O. |title=Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 11 (Revised), Court Officers, 1660-1837 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol11 |website=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |accessdateaccess-date=6 July 2019}}</ref> The first two positions were appointed by [[Lord Chamberlain]]'s warrant; the third, of greater importance, was a [[The Crown|Crown]] appointment.
 
==Medieval and early-modern England==
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The Chamber organization was controlled by the [[Lord Chamberlain]]; if he was the general of a small army of servitors, the Grooms of the Chamber were his junior officers, with ushers and footmen the footsoldiers. The Grooms wore the royal livery (in earlier periods), served as general attendants, and fulfilled a wide range of specific functions. (One Groom of the Chamber had the job of handing the "King's Stuff" to a Squire of the Body, who would then dress the King.) Grooms ranked below Gentlemen of the Chamber, usually important noblemen, but above Yeomen of the Chamber. They were mostly well-born, on a first rung of a [[courtier]]'s career. The office of Groom of the Chamber could also be bestowed in a more honorific manner, upon people who served the royal household in some less direct way; the early [[Tudor dynasty|Tudor]] poet [[Stephen Hawes]] became a Groom of the Chamber in 1502, under [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]].<ref>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Hawes, Stephen}}</ref>
 
Under [[James I]], the Bedchamber was established as a semi-autonomous department (overseen by the [[Groom of the Stole]]) with its own hierarchy of Gentlemen, Grooms and Yeomen, which usurped those of the Privy Chamber in terms of their influence with and closeness to the King.<ref name="BHOIntro">{{cite web |last1=Bucholz |first1=R. O. |title=Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Introduction: Administrative structure and work |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol11/xx-xxxvii |website=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |accessdateaccess-date=6 July 2019}}</ref> (The old Bedchamber office of Esquire to the Body was finally abolished in 1702).<ref name="BHOIntro" />
 
;;;Grooms Extraordinary
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*[[Edward Darcy]], 1579-1612
*[[Edward Denny (soldier)|Edward Denny]], 1582-1600
*[[Michael Stanhope (died c. 1621)|Michael Stanhope]], c.1583–1603 <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/stanhope-sir-michael-1545-1621|title=STANHOPE, Sir Michael (c.1545-1621), of the Barbican, London and Sudbourne, nr. Orford, Suff.; later of St. John's, Clerkenwell, Mdx.|publisher=History of Parliament Trust|accessdateaccess-date=14 February 2019}}</ref>
*[[Ferdinando Richardson]] (alias Heyborne), 1586-1618
 
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'''Charles I (1625–1649)'''
* [[John Trevor (1563–1630)|John Trevor]], 1625–? <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/trevor-john-1563-1630| publisher=History of Parliament|title=TREVOR, John (1563-1630) of Oatlands, Surrey|accessdateaccess-date=3 April 2019}}</ref> (died 1630)
* [[Sir William Walter, 1st Baronet|Sir William Walter]], 1633–1646 <ref>https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/walter-william-1604-1675</ref>
 
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* George Kirke, 1625–1646
* [[William Murray (MP for Fowey)|William Murray]], 1625->1643
* [[William Legge (Royalist)|William Legge]], 1645–1647 <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/legge-william-i-1608-70|title=LEGGE, William I (c.1608-70), of The Minories, London.|publisher=History of Parliament Trust|accessdateaccess-date= 3 April 2019}}</ref>
 
'''Commonwealth (1649–1660)'''
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==Post-Restoration England and Great Britain==
Fourteen Grooms of the Great Chamber were appointed under Charles II (later reduced to ten); they served as internal court messengers and were in attendance in the guard room.<ref name="BHOGreat">{{cite web |last1=Bucholz |first1=R. O. |title=Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Guard Chamber: Grooms of the Great Chamber 1660-1837 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol11/pp78-89 |website=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |accessdateaccess-date=6 July 2019}}</ref>
 
The Grooms of the Privy Chamber were six in number (reduced to two under [[James I]]); initially responsible for manning the doors to the Privy Chamber, by 1720 the office largely lost its function, but attendance was still required for Coronations and other 'extraordinary Occasions'.<ref name="BHOPrivy">{{cite web |last1=Bucholz |first1=R. O. |title=Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Privy Chamber: Grooms of the Privy Chamber 1660-1837 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol11/pp38-42 |website=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |accessdateaccess-date=6 July 2019}}</ref>
 
There were usually a dozen or so Grooms of the Bedchamber appointed (though under different monarchs the number varied from as many as fifteen or as few as eight), two of whom were on duty at any one time. They served for a week at a time in rotation and were responsible for attending the King in the Chamber when he dressed, and at Dinner when he dined privately (taking food and wine from the servants to give it to the Lords, who would serve The King).<ref name="BHOBed">{{cite web |last1=Bucholz |first1=R. O. |title=Office-Holders in Modern Britain: The bedchamber: Grooms of the Bedchamber 1660-1837 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/office-holders/vol11/pp20-24 |website=British History Online |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |accessdateaccess-date=6 July 2019}}</ref> They would also deputise for the [[Lord of the Bedchamber|Lords of the Bedchamber]] if required to do so. Grooms of the Bedchamber were close to the King and were occasionally sent overseas as special envoys to negotiate royal marriages and such. During the exile of James II a court was maintained by that king in France and certain of his grooms joined him there. Similarly, during the last years of the reign of King George III, when he withdrew from public life in consequence of his poor mental health, several of his grooms followed him to Windsor Castle, whilst others remained in London to serve the Prince Regent, later to become King George IV. When the Monarch was a Queen, the positions of Groom of the Bedchamber were not filled (though [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]], consort to Queen Victoria, did appoint his own Grooms of the Bedchamber).<ref>Court Circular</ref>
 
===List of Grooms of the Privy Chamber===
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