A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a noble court, attending to a queen, a princess or other noblewoman. A lady-in-waiting is often a noblewoman of lower rank (i.e. a lesser noble) than the one she attends to, and is not considered a servant or other commoner. Their duties varied from monarchy to monarchy. In Tudor England they were divided into four separate caste systems - great ladies, ladies of the privy chamber, maids of honour and chamberers. The ladies of the privy chamber were the ones who were closest to the queen, but most of the other women were the maids of honour. Lady Margaret Lee was a Lady of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anne Boleyn, just as Lady Elizabeth Seymour-Cromwell was to Queen Jane Seymour. The duties of ladies-in-waiting at the Tudor court were to act as royal companions, and to accompany the Queen wherever she went. Tudor queens often had a large degree of say in who became their ladies-in-waiting.

This attitude was very different to ladies-in-waiting to French queens under the later Bourbon dynasty. Ladies-in-waiting often acted as glorified but distant companions to the Spanish and Polish wives of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Under France's last Bourbon queen, Marie-Antoinette several of her favourite ladies-in-waiting - namely Yolande, duchesse de Polignac acquired huge influence and wealth for themselves.

In later years, the ladies-in-waiting became discreet companions to the royal ladies of Europe. A practice which continues to this day.

Some notable ladies-in-waiting in history include:

• Mary Boleyn
  • Elder sister of the more famous Anne
  • Mistress to King Henry VIII in the 1520s

• Three of Henry VIII's wives
  • Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour and Catherine Howard were all ladies-in-waiting before they became queen

• Jane Parker, Lady Rochford
  • sister-in-law of Henry's second queen, Anne Boleyn
  • lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves and Catherine Howard
  • She was executed along with Queen Catherine at the Tower of London.

• Jane Dormer
  • Devout Catholic and lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary I of England

• Katherine Ashley
  • governess and devoted lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I

• Sarah Jennings
  • a favourite of Princess Anne, later Queen Anne of Great Britain.
  • She married John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, and wielded immense political power until she fell out of favour with the queen.

• Yolande, duchesse de Polignac
  • Favourite courtier of Queen Marie-Antoinette
  • Hugely influential member of the queen's household
  • She became greatly unpopular and later fled into exile in Switzerland after the Revolution of 1789

• Louise-Elisabeth, Marquise de Tourzel
  • Ultra-royalist aristocrat in the time of Louis XVI
  • She was the last governess to the royal children, the Princess Royal and Louis XVII
  • She was later made a duchess by Louis XVI's younger brother Charles X

• Sophie Chotek
  • Czech aristocrat and a lady-in-waiting to a Hapsburg archduchess
  • She married the emperor's nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and had four children
  • She was shot to death along with her husband. Their assassination in Sarajevo triggered World War I.