The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and ablution.
The physical intimacy of the role naturally led to him becoming a man in whom much confidence was placed by his royal master and with whom many royal secrets were shared as a matter of course. This secret information--while it would never have been revealed, to the discredit of his honour--in turn led to him becoming feared and respected and therefore powerful within the royal court in his own right. The office developed gradually over decades and centuries into one of administration of the royal finances, and under Henry VII, the Groom of the Stool became a powerful official involved in setting national fiscal policy, under the "chamber system".
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History
Origins
The Groom of the Stool was, in the earliest times, a male servant in the household of an English monarch who was responsible for assisting the king in excretion and ablution, whilst maintaining an aura of royal decorum over the proceedings. The appellation "Groom of the Close Stool" derived from the item of furniture used as a toilet. It also appears as "Grom of the Stole" as the word "Groom" comes from the Old Low Franconian word "Grom".
In the Tudor era
By the Tudor age, the Groom of the Stool was a substantial figure like Hugh Denys (d.1511) who was a member of the Gloucestershire gentry, married to an aristocratic wife, and who died possessing at least four manors. The function was transformed into that of a virtual minister of the royal treasury, being then an essential figure in the king's management of fiscal policy.
In the early years of Henry VIII's reign, the title was awarded to court companions of the king who spent time with him in the privy chamber. These were generally the sons of noblemen or important members of the gentry. In time they came to act as virtual personal secretaries to the king, carrying out a variety of administrative tasks within his private rooms. The position was an especially prized one, as it allowed one unobstructed access to the king. David Starkey writes: "The Groom of the Stool had (to our eyes) the most menial tasks; his standing, though, was the highest ... Clearly then, the royal body service must have been seen as entirely honourable, without a trace of the demeaning or the humiliating." Further, "the mere word of the Gentleman of the Privy Chamber was sufficient evidence in itself of the king's will", and the Groom of the Stool bore "the indefinable charisma of the monarchy".
Evolution and discontinuation
The office was exclusively one serving male monarchs, so on the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, it was replaced by the First Lady of the Bedchamber, first held by Kat Ashley. The office effectively came to an end when it was "neutralised" in 1559. On the accession of James I, the male office was revived as the senior Lord of the Bedchamber, who always was a great nobleman who had considerable power because of its intimate access to the king. During the reign of Charles I the term "stool" appears to have lost its original signification of chair.
The office fell into disuse with the accession of Queen Victoria, though her husband, Prince Albert, and their son, Edward, Prince of Wales employed similar courtiers, now renamed "Groom of the Stole", from the Latin stola, a long outer garment or robe worn by Roman ladies. The Tudor historian David Starkey classes this change as classic Victorianism: "When the Victorians came to look at this office, they spelt it s-t-o-l-e, and imagined all kinds of fictions about elaborate robes draped around the neck of the monarch at the coronation." When Edward acceded to the throne as Edward VII in 1901, he discontinued the office.
Royal ablution today
Often when the visit of a modern monarch is planned, for example during the construction of a new building, a special royal lavatory pavilion is built for the occasion.
Stool Office Video
List of Grooms of the Stool
Grooms of the Stool under Henry VII
- Sir Edward Burton (d. 23 Apr 1524) of Longnor, Shropshire, father of Sir John Burton, Groom of the Stool to King Henry VIII.
- Hugh Denys (?-1509) of Osterley, Middlesex
Hugh Denys controlled the private and secret finances of King Henry VII.
Grooms of the Stool under Henry VIII
- Sir William Compton (1509-1526)
- Sir Henry Norris (1526-1536)
- Sir Thomas Heneage (1536-1546)
- Sir Anthony Denny (1546-1547)
Heneage and Denny, as servants 'whom he used secretly about him', were privy to Henry VIII's most intimate confidences about Anne of Cleves. He told them he doubted her virginity, on account of 'her brests so slacke'.
Grooms of the Stool to Edward VI
- Michael Stanhope (died 1552)
Grooms of the Stool to Charles I
- -1643: Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland
- 1643-c.1649: William Seymour, 1st Marquess of Hertford
- c.1649: Thomas Blagge
Grooms of the Stool to Henrietta Maria of France
- 1660-c.1667/1673: Elizabeth Boyle, Countess of Guilford
Grooms of the Stool to Charles II
- 1660: William Seymour, 1st Marquess of Hertford
- 1660-1685: Sir John Granville (later Earl of Bath)
Grooms of the Stool to James II
- 1685-1688: Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough
Grooms of the Stool to William III
- 1689-1700: William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland
- 1700-1702: Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney
Grooms of the Stool to Queen Anne
- 1702-1711: Sarah Churchill, Countess of Marlborough (later Duchess of Marlborough)
- 1711-1714: Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset
Grooms of the Stool to Prince George
- 1683-1685: John Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley of Stratton
- 1685-1687: Robert Leke, 3rd Earl of Scarsdale
- 1697-1708: John West, 6th Baron De La Warr
Grooms of the Stool to George I
- 1714-1719: Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset
- 1719-1722: Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland
- 1722-1723: Vacant
- 1723-1727: Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin
Grooms of the Stool to George II
- 1727-1735: Francis Godolphin, 2nd Earl of Godolphin
- 1735-1750: Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke
- 1751-1755: Willem Anne van Keppel, 2nd Earl of Albemarle
- 1755-1760: William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford
Grooms of the Stool to George III
- 1760-1761: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
- 1761-1770: Francis Hastings, 10th Earl of Huntingdon
- 1770-1775: George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol
- 1775: Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth
- 1775-1782: John Ashburnham, 2nd Earl of Ashburnham
- 1782-1796: Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth (later Marquess of Bath)
- 1796-1804: John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe
- 1804-1812: George Finch, 9th Earl of Winchilsea
- 1812-1820: Charles Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester
Grooms of the Stool to George IV
- 1820-1830: Charles Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester
Grooms of the Stool to William IV
- 1830-1837: Charles Paulet, 13th Marquess of Winchester
Grooms of the Stool to Prince Albert
- 1840-1841: Lord Robert Grosvenor (later Lord Ebury)
- 1841-1846: Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter
- 1846-1859: James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Abercorn (later Duke of Abercorn)
- 1859-1861: Benjamin Paul Hudson, 5th Earl Spencer
Grooms of the Stool to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
- 1862-1866: John Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer
- 1866-1877: Vacant?
- 1877-1883: Sir William Knollys
- 1883-1901: James Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Abercorn
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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