Changes made to the structure and function of the household

• The privy chamber grew in political importance over the tudor period
• The privy chamber had its own staff who from 1518 were known as the gentlemen of the privy chamber
• Between 1520-1525 gentlemen of the privy chamber were sent on diplomatic missions to France
• Access to the monarch via the privy chamber was one route to power and influence in the tudor period
• Henry VIII aversion to paperwork led to the introduction of the dry stamp which was kept by the gentleman of the privy chamber
• The dry stamp was a copy of the monarchs signature used on documents to make it official
• In the 1540s the faction led by edmund seymour and john dudley gained control of the stamp allowing them to alter the Kings will in 1547
• Under Edward access to him and the dry stamp was again controlled through the privy chamber
• The role of the privy chamber began to change with the accession of female monarchs, mary and elizabeth
• Mary kept her dry stamp under lock and key and never allowed her administrators to use it
• Under Elizabeth the chamber continued to decline in political importance
• From 1559,politics and formal decisions were determined through the formal channels of Elizabeth's Council rather than through the chamber