The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen (or Financial Secretary to the King/Queen) is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. At coronations in recent centuries, the holders of this office invariably carried a ceremonial purse, embroidered with the royal coat of arms.
Contents
Present day
The officeholder is assisted by the Deputy Treasurer to the King/Queen for the management of the Sovereign Grant, currently Sally O'Neill (formerly Chief Operating Officer of the Royal Opera House).
The officeholder is also assisted by the Deputy Keeper of the Privy Purse for semi-private concerns, such as racing stables, the Royal Philatelic Collection, Royal Ascot, the Chapel Royal, the Page of Honour, Military Knights of Windsor, Royal Maundy, the Royal Victorian Order, grace and favour apartments, and the Duchy of Lancaster. These are funded from the Privy Purse, which is drawn largely from the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall.
The Keeper of the Privy Purse meets the Sovereign at least weekly. Among the duties is the allocation of grace and favour apartments at the royal palaces. The current Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King is James Chalmers.
History
In 1920, as part of a re-arrangement of duties in the Royal Household of King George V, the Keeper of His Majesty's Privy Purse was retitled 'Treasurer to the King and Keeper of the Privy Purse'; at the same time the Secretary of the Privy Purse became 'Assistant Treasurer to the King, and Secretary of the Privy Purse'. In 1922, the latter office-holder (Sir John Chapple) was redesignated as 'Deputy Keeper of the Privy Purse', though he resigned from office the following year. His successor was (once again) appointed 'Secretary of His Majesty's Privy Purse'; while, two months later, a separate 'Deputy Treasurer to the King' was appointed. Subsequently, these two officers served, under the 'Treasurer to the King and Keeper of the Privy Purse', as respective heads of the Privy Purse Office and the Treasurer's Office. Towards the end of George V's reign, the office of Keeper of the Privy Purse was briefly combined with that of Private Secretary to the King, with the erstwhile Deputy Treasurer (Sir Ralph Endersby Harwood) serving as Financial Secretary to the King.
List of Keepers of the Privy Purse
Henry VIII
Henry Norris by 1526–?1536 (executed 1536)
Anthony Denny c. 1536
Edward VI
Peter Osborne 1551–1552
Elizabeth I
John Tamworth, 1559–1569
Henry Seckford 1559–1603
James I
Sir Richard Molyneux, 1st Baronet, 1607–?
George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar, c. 1610–1611
John Murray, 1st Earl of Annandale 1611–1616
Charles I
Richard Molyneux, 1st Viscount Molyneux, 1616?–1636
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Ancram, 1636?–1639
Charles II
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, 1661–1662
Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth, 1662–1665
Baptist May 1665–1685
James II
James Graham, 1685–1689
William III
William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland, 1689–1700
Caspar Frederick Henning, 1700–1702
Anne
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough 1702–1711
Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham 1711–1714
George I
Caspar Frederick Henning, 1714–1727
George II
Augustus Schutz, 1727–1757
The Honourable Edward Finch, 1757–1760
George III
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, 1760–1763
William Breton, 1763–1773
James Brudenell, 5th Earl of Cardigan, 1773–1811
Colonel Sir John McMahon, 1st Baronet, 1812–1817
Lieutenant-General Benjamin Bloomfield, 1st Baron Bloomfield, 1817–1822
George IV
Sir William Knighton, 1st Baronet, 1821–1830
William IV
Major-General Sir Henry Wheatley, 1st Baronet, 1830–1846
Victoria
George Edward Anson 1847–1849
Colonel Sir Charles Beaumont Phipps, 1849–1866
General Sir Charles Grey, 1866–1867 (jointly)
Colonel Thomas Myddleton-Biddulph, 1866–1878 (jointly to 1867)
Major-General Sir Henry Ponsonby, 1878–1895
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Fleetwood Edwards, 1895–1901
Edward VII
General Sir Dighton MacNaghton Probyn, 1901–1910
George V
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir William Carington, 1910–1914
Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Ponsonby, 1st Baron Sysonby, 1914–1935
Colonel Clive Wigram, 1st Baron Wigram, 1935–1936
Edward VIII
Major Sir Ulick Alexander, 1936
George VI
Major Sir Ulick Alexander, 1936–1952
Elizabeth II
Brigadier Charles Tryon, 2nd Baron Tryon, 1952–1971
Major Sir Rennie Maudslay, 1971–1981
Sir Peter Miles, 1981–1987
Major Sir Shane Blewitt, 1988–1996
Sir Michael Peat, 1996–2002
Sir Alan Reid, 2002–2017
Sir Michael Stevens 2018–2022
Charles III
Sir Michael Stevens, 2022–2025
James Chalmers, 2025–present
Deputies
Deputy Keepers
This list is not complete.
1922–1925: Paymaster Rear-Admiral Sir John Henry George Chapple
1985–1988: Major Sir Shane Blewitt
1988–2002: Sir John Christopher Parsons
2002–?: Harold Smith
?–2011: Ian Donald McGregor
2011–2017: Sir Michael John Stevens
2017–present: Sally O'Neill
Deputy Treasurers
1923–1935: Sir Ralph Endersby Harwood
1941–1958: Commander Sir Dudley Colles
1958–1968: Commander Sir Philip John Row
1969–1985: Sir Russell Dillon Wood
1988–2002: Sir John Christopher Parsons
2003–2007: Stephen Ingleby Cawley
2007–2017: Sir Michael John Stevens
2017–present: Sally O'Neill