A royal household or imperial household in ancient and medieval monarchies, and papal household for popes, formed the basis for the general government of the country as well as providing for the needs of the sovereign and his relations.
Contents
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.
Europe
The royal households of such of European monarchies have a continuous history since medieval times.