Dame d'honneur

Première dame d'honneur ('First lady of honour'), or only dame d'honneur ('lady of honour'), was an office at the royal court of France. It existed in nearly all French courts from the 16th-century onward. Though the task of the post shifted, the dame d'honneur was normally the first or the second rank of all ladies-in-waiting. The dame d'honneur was selected from the members of the highest French nobility.

The office was created in 1523. The task of the dame d'honneur was to supervise the female courtiers, controlling the budget, ordering necessary purchases, and organizing the annual account and staff list; she supervised the daily routine, and attended ordinary as well as ceremonial court functions, as well as escorting and introducing those seeking audience with the queen. She had the keys to the queen's personal rooms in her possession.

When the dame d'honneur was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'atour, who normally had the responsibility of the queen's wardrobe and jewelry and the dressing of the queen.

In 1619, the office of the Surintendante de la Maison de la Reine, or only surintendante, was created. The surintendante had about the same tasks as the dame d'honneur: receiving the oath of the female personnel before they took office and supervising them and the queens daily routine, as well as organizing the accounts and staff list, but she was placed in rank above the dame d'honneur. Whenever the surintendante was absent, she was replaced by the dame d'honneur. The post of surintendante could be left vacant for long periods, such as between the death of Marie Anne de Bourbon in 1741 and the appointment of Princess Marie Louise of Savoy in 1775.

The term dame d'honneur has also been use as a term for a French lady-in-waiting in general. From 1523, the group of ladies-in-waiting attending the court as companions of the queen had the title dame d'honneur (commonly only 'dame'), hence the title 'Première dame d'honneur' ('First lady of honur') to distinguish between the chief lady in waiting and the remaining (married) ladies-in-waiting. In 1674, however, a reform replaced both the common married dame d'honneur or dames as well as the unmarried filles d'honneur ('maid of honour') or filles with the dame de palais.

The position of dame d'honneur was revived during the First Empire, were the principal lady-in-waiting to the empress had the same title.

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