Maid of honour - wikipedia Maid of honour This is the current revision of this page, as edited by Volunteer1234 ( talk contribs ) at 14 : 44, 5 August 2017 ( → ‎ Terminology : redundancy ). The present address ( URL ) is a permanent link to this version. Revision as of 14 : 44, 5 August 2017 by Volunteer1234 ( talk contribs ) ( → ‎ Terminology : redundancy ) ( diff ) ← Previous revision Latest revision ( diff ) Newer revision → ( diff ) This article discusses the court title. For the ceremonial position in a wedding, see bridesmaid. For the 2008 movie see Made of Honor. For the traditional English dish, see Maids of honour tart. Maids of honour are the junior attendants of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady - in - waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen regnant had eight maids of honour, while a queen consort had four ; Queen Anne Boleyn, however, had over 60. A maid of honour was a maiden, meaning that she was unmarried, and was usually young. Maids of honour were commonly in their sixteenth year or older, although Lady Jane Grey, served as a maid of honour to Queen Catherine Parr in about 1546 -- 48, when Jane was only about ten to twelve years old. Under Mary I and Elizabeth I, maids of honour were at court as a kind of finishing school, with the hope of making a good marriage. Elizabeth Knollys was a maid of the court at the age of nine. Some of the maids of honour were paid, while others were not. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the term maid of honour in waiting was sometimes used. The queen mother often also had maids of honour. In 1912, for example, Ivy Gordon - Lennox was appointed a maid of honour to Queen Alexandra. In 1912, King George V granted maids of honour the style of The Honourable, with precedence next after daughters of barons. At her coronation, Queen Elizabeth II had maids of honour who attended to her throughout the ceremony, especially carrying the trains of her robes. The Queen had six Maids of Honour : Lady Moyra Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn ; Lady Anne Coke, daughter of Thomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester ; Lady Jane Vane - Tempest - Stewart, daughter of Robin Vane - Tempest - Stewart, 8th Marquess of Londonderry ; Lady Mary Baillie - Hamilton, daughter of George Baillie - Hamilton, 12th Earl of Haddington ; Lady Jane Heathcote - Drummond - Willoughby, daughter of James Heathcote - Drummond - Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster ; and Lady Rosemary Spencer - Churchill, daughter of John Spencer - Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough. Terminology A lady - in - waiting is a woman who attends a female member of the Royal Family other than the queen regnant or queen consort. An attendant upon one of the latter is a lady of the bedchamber or woman of the bedchamber, and the senior lady - in - waiting is the mistress of the robes. The women of the bedchamber are in regular attendance, but the mistress of the robes and the ladies of the bedchamber are normally only required for ceremonial occasions. The term maid of honour is the origin of the American English term maid of honor, usually the best friend of a bride who leads her bridal party. References Jump up ^ Danish : Hoffrøken ; French : Demoiselle d'honneur or Fille d'honneur ; German : Hoffräulein ; Russian : Hofdevitsa or Freïlina ; Spanish : Meninas ; Swedish : Hovfröken Jump up ^ `` No. 28570 ''. The London Gazette. 9 January 1912. p. 209. : `` Marlborough House, 1st January, 1912. Queen Alexandra has been graciously pleased to appoint Miss Ivy Gordon - Lennox to be one of the Maids of Honour to Her Majesty in the room of the Honourable Blanche Lascelles, resigned. '' Jump up ^ `` No. 28661 ''. The London Gazette. 8 November 1912. p. 8201. Jump up ^ The Pippas of their day !, Daily Mail, retrieved 6 February 2015 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maid_of_honour&oldid=794052062 '' Categories : Positions within the British Royal Household Maids of Honour Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from July 2011 Talk Article Talk More Contents About Wikipedia Dansk Bahasa Indonesia Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 5 August 2017, at 14 : 44. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what is the meaning of maid of honour
Answer: junior attendants of a queen in royal households