Retinue
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Specifically Royal Retinue.
A retinue is a crew of people who take care of the King and Queen or Prince and Princess during Their reign, providing personal support and care both at home and at events so that the King and Queen are free to perform Their royal duties.
This care and support may take the form of setting up and breaking down camp, organizing court, taking notes at meetings, fetching and carrying, minding children, delivering messages, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and more.
(Added without permission. --Elizabeth Braidwood 16:11, 26 Jul 2005 (EDT))
Usually the retinue is composed of people that the royal couple know and trust to be hard working and reliable along with discrete. Being on retinue is hard work. Think of it as being the stage crew for a major theatrical performance. They do the majority of the work behind the scenes that make their Majesties court flow smoothly and efficently. A good retinue can make the royal couple look great. A lazy or ill-prepared retinue can really make court slow, boring and frankly, not worth going to. Each reign is different and each set of royalty handles it's retinue differently. The head lady in waiting is like the stage director and tries to be at all events that the royal couple go to.
--Syr Garan Steingrimson called Darkwolf
The Crown is not required to use the same people, however there is often a "core" of retinue that is known to be reliable and experienced. That is why you often see the same people up there through multiple reigns. The other people that you see behind the thrones are heralds and attendants for any Prince/ess, Baron/ess that are there. Again, there is often a core group so you will see the same people often.
Many Crowns have Royal Counsel/Advisers to help them. Generally these people are former Royalty or former Kingdom officers and are very experienced with the nuances and politics of reigning.
Generally there is a Head Lady in Waiting to wrangle the attendants behind the thrones for both the King & Queen. There is also generally a Captain of the Guard to wrangle the guards who provide muscle and ceremonial "protection". The guards are often the people that put up the royal pavilion, thrones, unload the trailer and handle any other brute force needs. Sometimes there are separate Kings and Queens guards, but just as often it is one group.
--Ula Brennasdottir
See also: Queen's Guard