The office of Royal Librarian, in the Royal Collection Department of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, is responsible for the care and maintenance of the books and manuscripts in the Royal Library, a collection spread across all the palaces, occupied and unoccupied. In addition to his or her role overseeing the

librarians A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

in the Royal Library, the Librarian is also Deputy Keeper of the

Royal Archives The Royal Archives, also known as the King's Archives, is a division of The Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It is operationally under the control of the Keeper of the Royal Archives, who is customarily the Private Secre ...

and is responsible for the management of the Royal Archives and its collections.Allison, R, and Riddell, S (eds.), The Royal Encyclopaedia. Macmillan Press, 1991

The role of the Royal Librarian

Today the Royal Library collections comprise the documentary and intellectual heritage of the

Monarchy of the United Kingdom The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Baili ...

and its predecessors, span nearly two-and-half millennia and comprise millions of pages, many unique, many encapsulating some of the most extraordinary moments in British history, and many items important in their own right. As well as books and manuscripts, The Librarian is also responsible for the collections of insignia,

coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

and

medals A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

, seals,

banknotes A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued ...

, and other material. As Assistant Keeper of the Royal Archives, The Librarian has oversight of the

, based at Windsor Castle since 1911. The Royal Library and

supports the work of th
Royal Household
in the

Royal Collection Trust The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

Department through exhibitions, events, and publications, and the work of the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main c ...

's and

Private Secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...

's Offices through the creation of displays and manufacture of gifts for State Visits, for selected garden parties, and other types of official and public engagement. The Royal Library and

teams work very closely with the information assurance work of Royal Household to meet the challenges of dealing with library and archive material in the digital age. The Royal Library includes responsibility for the Royal Library bindery.

History

Although a Librarian was always required for any sizeable royal collection of books, the present office dates from 1836, when the then existing collections of books at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

were consolidated. This followed two donations of the bulk of the historic collections to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(now held in the split-off

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

). The so-called

Old Royal Library The Royal manuscripts are one of the "closed collections" of the British Library (i.e. historic collections to which new material is no longer added), consisting of some 2,000 manuscripts collected by the sovereigns of England in the "Old Royal ...

was given under George II in 1757, and included the relatively small, but high quality, holdings of medieval manuscripts, many acquired or re-acquired long after their creation, and a collection essentially beginning with Edward IV that had been retained since new in the royal library. The

King's Library The King's Library was one of the most important collections of books and pamphlets of the Age of Enlightenment.British LibraryGeorge III Collection: the King's Libraryaccessed 26 May 2010 Assembled by George III, this scholarly library of over ...

was some 65,000 volumes essentially assembled by George III and given by George IV. The offer was made in 1823, but the physical transfer delayed until 1827, when a new gallery had been built. The office was only admitted to the Royal Household in the 19th century. John Glover was appointed in 1837 and since his time there have been 8 subsequent Librarians. They are: * John Glover 1837-1860 * Bernard Woodward 1860-1869 * Richard (later Sir Richard) Holmes 1870-1905 * The Hon. (later Sir John) Fortescue 1905-1926 * Owen (later Sir Owen) Morshead 1926-1958 * Robin (later Sir Robin) Mackworth-Young 1958-1985 * Oliver Everett 1985-2002 * The Hon. Jane (later Lady) Roberts 2002-2013Royal Collection Trust Annual Report 2013-2014, p. 14 * Oliver Urquhart Irvine 2014-2018 * Stella Panayotova 2019- Up to and including the tenure of Oliver Everett, the Librarians were responsible for all the collections within the Royal Library at

, including the prints and drawings collections, and since the establishment of the

in the Round Tower at

in 1911, the Librarian has also been responsible for the day-to-day management of the Royal Archives answering to the Keeper of the Royal Archives, a post held by the Sovereign's Private Secretary. From 2002-2013 the then Librarian, The Hon. Lady Jane Roberts's responsibilities included the Library and prints and drawings only, with the Assistant Keepership of the

coming under the responsibility of Director of Records (currently David Ryan

LVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

first as Assistant Keeper and now as Deputy Keeper of the

). Since 2014, The Librarian has once again responsibility as Assistant Keeper of the

, while the prints and drawings collections held in the

Print Room A print room is a room in an art gallery or museum where a collection of old master and modern prints, usually together with drawings, watercolours, and photographs, are held and viewed. A further meaning is a room decorated by pasting prints ...

became the responsibility of a newly created post of Head of Prints and Drawings (currently

Martin Clayton Martin Clayton, LVO, FSA, (born 1967) is Head of Prints and Drawings for Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle. He is a specialist in the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Early life Martin Clayton was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on 30 ...

MVO). The current Librarian and Deputy Keeper is Stella Panayotova, formerly of the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

References

External links

The Monarchy website

The Royal Archives

Queen Victoria's Journals online

The Royal Collection Trust website

The British Library
{{Coord , 51.4841, -0.6018, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title British monarchy Positions within the British Royal Household *Royal Librarian Windsor Castle