Lord Chamberlain

plural Lord Chamberlains · plural Lords Chamberlain

1. UKgovernmentThe holder of an office in the government of the United Kingdom, heading the royal household of the monarch.

   Holonym: royal household

   1 more example

   For centuries, these strict, dyspeptic, and sometimes unintentionally hilarious bureaucrats read and passed judgment on every public theatrical production in Britain, striking out references to sex, God, and politics, and forcing playwrights to, as one put it, cook their "conceptions to the taste of authority." They reported to the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which in 1737 became responsible for granting licenses to theaters and approving the texts of plays. "Examiners" made sure that no productions would offend the sovereign, blaspheme the Church, or stir audiences to political radicalism. An 1843 act expanded the department's powers, calling upon it to block any play that threatened not just the "Public Peace" but "Decorum" and "good Manners."

   2025 March 29, Thomas Chatterton Williams, “All the King's censors: When bureaucrats ruled over British theater”, in The Atlantic, page 20