B

y 1558, the structure of the Royal Household of Elizabeth I had become very elaborate, with a definite hierarchy of service. There were the heights—the Ladies of the Bedchamber; the middle—the Ladies of the Privy Chamber; and the lowest (but still pretty good), the Ladies of the Presence Chamber. The latter seem to have had no set duties except to attend on the Queen when she wanted to impress someone, such as a foreign ambassador. The six unmarried Maids of Honor went with the Queen on her morning walks and to church services, clad in the regulation white and silver. When the Queen took the throne, her old nursery maid Blanche Parry was named Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, while a Mistress Elizabeth Eglionby had the unenviable task of shepherding the Maids of Honor.