The ladies-in-waiting to Henry VIII’s wives were serious political operators with unparalleled access to the royal inner sanctum. Nicola Clark reveals how six of the most influential navigated the vipers’ nest that was the Tudor court
THEY ARE INVISIBLE BUT INDISPENSABLE. Unremarked, yet always there. Tudor ladies-in-waiting have long been depicted as mere ‘scenery’ in books, plays and films about the 16th century, a backdrop of pretty faces.
This is accurate – to a point. A queen’s ladies were not supposed to draw attention away from her, and they often blend into the background of the surviving source material as well. New archival research, however, reveals that the ladies-in-waiting of Henry VIII’s wives were experts at survival, negotiating the competing demands of their families and their queen. They were serious political players who changed the course of history.
Every Tudor queen had ladies-in-waiting – and they were never not there. As the queen’s confidantes and her chaperones, their job was to accompany their mistress wherever she went and assist her in any way that she required, from helping her to dress in the morning, to chatting with strangers at a banquet, or dancing in revels.
To be one of the queen’s women was to be part of an exclusive set. There were only between 20 and 25 women in ‘ordinary’, daily, service at any given time. And though it was an honour to be chosen, it was not a soft option. They were on duty all day, every day, and could not leave without royal permission.
Ladies-in-waiting held one of three household ranks corresponding to social status: a few ‘great ladies’, several more ‘ladies and gentlewomen’, and a few ‘chamberers’, still of gentry status but responsible for the more menial tasks. To these were added ‘maids of honour’, six teenage girls under the supervision of the mother of the maids. Other noblewomen might pop in to visit or to provide temporary cover for an absence as ‘extraordinary’ ladies-in-waiting.
Vacancies were like gold dust. Every family wanted eyes and ears near the monarch. Foreign queens had their households selected for them before they arrived, but over time all of Henry’s consorts could choose their own ladies sub
