Royal household

Traditionally there often have been large numbers of employees in the household, strictly differentiated by rank, from nobles with highly sought-after positions that gave close access to the monarch, to all the usual servants such as cooks, footmen, and maids. Traditionally the household typically includes military forces providing security. Specialists such as artists, clock-makers and poets might be given a place in the household, often by appointing them as valet de chambre or the local equivalent.

Among many of these households there are certain great offices which have become, in course of time, merely hereditary. In most cases, as the name of the office would suggest, they were held by those who discharged personal functions about the sovereign. Gradually, in ways or for reasons which might vary in each individual case, the office alone survived, the duties either ceasing to be necessary or being transferred to officers of less exalted station.

In the modern period, royal households have evolved into entities which are variously differentiated from national governments. Most modern households have become merely titular. An example of a present-day royal household that employs hundreds of people, with many job descriptions, is the household of Charles III.

Asia

China

Japan

In Japan, the Imperial Household Agency (宮内庁, Kunaichō) is the agency within the Government of Japan responsible for supporting the Emperor and the Imperial Family as well as keeping the Privy Seal and Great Seal of Japan.

The Agency is headed by a director-general, who is assisted by the Cabinet-appointed deputy director. The internal organisation of the Agency can be seen below.

• The Grand Steward's Secretariat
• Board of Chamberlains
• Emperor Emeritus' Household
• Crown Prince's Household
• Board of Ceremonies
• Archives and Mausolea Department
• Maintenance and Works Department

Auxiliary organs of the Agency include:

• Office of the Shoshoin Treasure House
• Imperial Stock Farm

Local branch office:

• Kyoto Office

Thailand