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.The British Monarchy: The Privy Purse

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.“Window on my Heart”, Olave Baden-Powell, 1973, p. 201 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, 19361952

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

See also Treasurer of the Household

References