The Royal Office of Master of the Horse

M.M. Reese

THE ROYAL OFFICE OF MASTER OF THE HORSE is the first book to be published about this great office of the Royal Household, which had its beginnings over a thousand years ago and which, more than any other, represents the outward splendour of monarchy.

Through the centuries the Master of the Horse has been, under various titles, the keeper of the royal stables when the horse was the only efficient means of transport and communication.  He has been in varying degrees responsible for the removal of the king's itinerant household from one royal residence to another, for the provision of horses for the king at war, the king visiting his possessions in France, the king jousting, hunting or racing; for the maintenance of the royal studs; for the purchase from overseas of horses that would improve the native stock; for the harbingers and purveyors who rode ahead of the court to command lodgings and provisions; for the messengers who conveyed the king's wishes and orders to outlying districts.  From earliest times it is his department of the Household which has been most closely concerned with the presentation of royal progresses, processions and other state ceremonies.

The book traces the story of the Master and his department from obscure origins in pre-Saxon times to the organisation of the Royal Mews today. It reveals an aspect of the monarchy and thus of English social life-which until now has never been written about in detail. It shows how, during most of its history, the office has been held by men close to the Sovereign, beginning with Alfred the Great's horse-thegns-men of noble birth who embodied the knightly virtues long before the French introduced 'chivalry' to Europe.

The Master's position at court was established during the 14th century, and since that time there have been seventy-five holders of the office. Until politics obscured the original intent, they were men of action, outdoor men, chosen for strength of purpose as well as for knowledge of horses. Until the mid-16th century they were also fighting men: Richard Beauchamp, knight errant, Redman and Waterton, powerful Lancastrian supporters of Henry IV, John Cheyne, seven foot tall, who took up Henry Tudor's fallen standard at Bosworth; Knyvet the sailor and Anthony Browne, who fought in Henry VIII's wars. Later came the Elizabethan and Stuart court favourites the Earls of Leicester and Essex, the Dukes of Buckingham, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, all of them skilled horsemen.

From Hanoverian times onward the story moves on another course, as the pattern of government alters and the administration of the Master of the Horse's Department is gradually taken over by the Crown Equerry. In these later chapters there are many fascinating behind-the-scenes details of hunting, racing, the improvement of bloodstock, carriages and motor-cars, and the preparations for state ceremonies.

Though today the Master no longer wields the power of former times, the Plantagenet concept of his office lives on in the 10th Duke of Beaufort, personal friend of the Sovereign, nobleman, courtier, soldier, horseman and huntsman. His forebear the Earl of Worcester was Master to Queen Elizabeth I and his grandfather twice held the office in the time of Queen Victoria. Appointed on 21 July 1936, he has been Master longer than anyone in history, and this book is published to celebrate his fortieth anniversary.

A scholarly but far from stuffy work, written elegantly and with enthusiasm, it is the result of painstaking research in the Royal Archives, the British Library, the Public Record Office and other institutions, and it contains a good deal of material so far unpublished.

It is richly illustrated with 40 pages of colour and over 200 monochrome plates, many of which are reproduced for the first time.

THE AUTHOR, MAX REESE, is an historian and Shakespearean scholar. He is also a journalist, and writes on sport in a national newspaper.

THRESHOLD

Hardback, first edition (1976)