, Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Henrietta Maria. In the Middle Ages,
Margaret of France is noted to have had seven ladies of the bedchamber: the three married ones were called
dominæ and the four unmarried ones were known as
maids of honour. Their task was simply to act as the companions (see
lady's companion) and personal attendants to the royal woman. In a description from 1728, the task of the ladies of the bedchamber was to act as the go-between for the queen and the
women of the bedchamber, who had the task to wait upon the queen by helping her wash, dress and undress, and so forth. A woman of the bedchamber worked independently from a lady of the bedchamber and did not take orders from her. However, if a lady of the bedchamber was present, a woman of the bedchamber would always defer to her. If a lady of the bedchamber was present when a woman of the bedchamber arrived to dress the queen, for example, she would not dress the queen herself, but instead give the garments to the lady of the bedchamber, who in turn helped the queen put it on. The procedure was the same in other issues. The post of a lady of the bedchamber was considered prestigious, and the appointments have therefore been subjected to controversies.
Queen Anne appointed
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, to this position; the Duchess was widely considered an influential royal
favourite. In 1839, concerns that Queen Victoria was determined to surround herself with wives of
Whig politicians led to the
Bedchamber crisis, preventing the installation of a Tory government under
Robert Peel. ==Ladies of the bedchamber to the queens of England==