A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, functions and entertainments. In addition, six of these gentlemen were appointed by the Lord Chamberlain, together with a peer, and the Master of the Ceremonies, to publicly attend to all foreign ambassadors. Their institution was owed to King Henry VII. As a singular mark of favour, they were empowered to execute the King's verbal command without producing any written order; their person and character being deemed sufficient authority. Below Gentlemen in the hierarchy of the Privy Chamber were the Grooms of the Privy Chamber. History Privy chamber and outer chamber in an English royal household The privy chamber was the most influential department in an English royal household. It contained the king's "privy lodging", consisting of bedroom, library, study, and lavatory. What was known as the chamber was later divided into a privy chamber (distinguished from bedchamber in 1559), and outer chamber (often styled presence chamber). "While entry to the Presence Chamber was strongly contested by many, the key to real influence lay in access to the Privy Chamber." In fact, maintaining verbal contact with the King effectively required access to and control of the King's private lodgings; in other words, the privy chamber. The privy chamber under the Tudors The privy chamber originated in Henry VII's reign (1485–1509). By the time his son Henry VIII had ascended the throne, the privy chamber had become quite institutionalized, with a regular staff of its own, such as gentlemen, ushers, grooms, and pages. It developed further under the reign of Henry VIII, through a winding process of reform and reorganisation, particularly from 1518 to 1536. The gentlemen who dominated the privy chamber were servants of the Crown and usually "shared two characteristics: the king's religion and the king's personal favour." Apart from playing an "increasingly important role in the handling of the crown's cash", the Privy chamber also played a military role, providing an "army-within-an-army". Often, the gentlemen in the privy chamber were peers of Henry or figures of importance in the government, who shared their duties with the Groom of the Stool and the Chief Gentleman of the Chamber, with overall responsibility for all staff. These people usually organised