The Lord Steward has been one of the three Great Officers of the Household since medieval times.

He is in attendance at Buckingham Palace on important ceremonial occasions such as State visits and in particular at State banquets, where he presents guests to The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and their visitors.

The Lord Steward receives a white staff as a mark of his office. From its Latin name (virga) is derived the phrase 'verge of the court', to describe the area over which the Lord Steward used to have civil and criminal jurisdiction.

The Lord Steward is always a peer. The present Lord Steward is Sir James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn.

The Lord Steward was formerly an important political figure, until 1924 the holder changing with changes of government.

In the past the Lord Steward used to be in charge of the below-stairs officers and staff, supervising his department through the Board of Green Cloth.

Much of the work, however, was delegated to his subordinates, in particular the Master of the Household. Since the 1920s the Lord Steward has only been the titular head of the Master of the Household's Department, and the Board of Green Cloth disappeared in the reform of the local government licensing in 2004.