Lord-in-waiting

{{short description|Peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom}}

Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom.{{cite news|last=Tomlinson|first=Richard|title=They also serve, who only ush|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/they-also-serve-who-only-ush-why-is-the-queen-followed-by-people-in-antique-clothes-richard-tomlinson-on-the-lords-ladies-women-masters-silver-sticks-and-white-staves-at-court-1564751.html|newspaper=Independent|date=20 Dec 1992}} In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without hyphenation).

There are two kinds of lord-in-waiting: political appointees by the government of the day who serve as junior government whips in the House of Lords (the senior whips have the positions of Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard); and non-political appointments by the monarch (who, if they have a seat in the House of Lords, sit as crossbenchers). Lords-in-waiting (whether political or non-political) may be called upon periodically to represent the sovereign; for example, one of their number is regularly called upon to greet visiting heads of state on arrival at an airport at the start of a state or official visit, and they may then play a role in accompanying them for the duration of their stay (for instance, on 3 June 2019 lord-in-waiting Alan Brooke, 3rd Viscount Brookeborough was in attendance at London Stansted Airport to welcome U.S. president Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on behalf of the Queen; he and Viscountess Brookeborough then remained "specially attached" to the Trumps for the duration of their visit).Court Circular, Buckingham Palace, 3 June 2019. They are also occasionally in attendance on other state or royal occasions. "Extra" lords-in-waiting may also be appointed, supernumerary to the regular appointees, who fulfil a similar role; for example, Baroness Rawlings, whose appointment as a government whip (and baroness-in-waiting) ceased in 2012, continued to serve as an extra baroness-in-waiting,[https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/baroness-rawlings/3278 UK Parliament website biographical page] and represented the Queen on certain occasions (for example on 27 February 2019 she was present at RAF Northolt to welcome the King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan, while at the same time another baroness-in-waiting, Baroness Manzoor, was present at Heathrow Airport to welcome Borut Pahor, president of Slovenia).Court Circular, Buckingham Palace, 27 February 2019.

In addition, the honour of serving as a permanent lord-in-waiting is occasionally bestowed on very senior courtiers following their retirement. A permanent lord-in-waiting may also represent the sovereign, as often happens at funerals or memorial services for former courtiers.