mistress

The mistress of the robes was the senior lady in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom.
Formerly responsible for the queen consort's/regnant's clothes and jewellery (as the name implies), the post had the responsibility for arranging the rota of attendance of the ladies-in-waiting on the queen, along with various duties at state ceremonies. In modern times, the mistress of the robes was almost always a duchess. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this role often overlapped with or was replaced as first lady of the bedchamber.
In the past, whenever the queen was a queen regnant rather than a queen consort, the mistress of the robes was a political appointment, changing with the government. However, this has not been the case since the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, and Queen Elizabeth II had only had two mistresses of the robes in more than seventy years' reign. Queens dowager have their own mistresses of the robes, and in the 18th century princesses of Wales had one too.

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