Groom of the stole

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the first lord of the bedchamber in the royal household.

- Brande & C.

See also: Stole

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.

References in periodicals archive ?

Anne's court may have encouraged the importance of gossip since, being ill for much of her reign, she was confined to her bedchamber for longer periods than most of her predecessors, and this undoubtedly gave crucial political clout to the women who served her there and particularly the groom of the stole. Some might quibble with Parsons' definition of gossip: 'a mode of interpretation that interrogates the otherwise unremarkable signs of the everyday world in order to read their hidden meanings.

Nicola Parsons, Reading Gossip in Early Eighteenth-Century England

Sarah was made mistress of the robes, groom of the stole and keeper of the privy purse, which put her in control of the royal household.