ABSTRACT
In May 1532 Sir Henry Guildford, the Comptroller of the Household, died and Sir William Paulet was appointed in his place. Every royal office was theoretically in the king's gift, but senior household appointments were really chosen by the monarch personally and were significant marks of favour. The Comptroller was also a ‘core’ councillor – what would later be known as a member of the Privy Council – and took the councillor's oath. The Comptroller's main responsibility was to preside over the Board of Greencloth, the accounting office which controlled the expenditure of the various household departments. 1 In theory the Lord Steward presided, but the Lord Steward was a grandee and did not usually trouble with such routine matters. In 1532 he was George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewbury, who was 64 years old and who was to die in 1538. He appeared at court only occasionally and it is unlikely that he played any significant part in administration, or was even consulted over Paulet's appointment. It is possible that this was a promotion which had been anticipated for some time, because in a letter which appears to have been written as early as July 1531 Dr. Richard Layton had addressed a query about a licence of Mortmain to ‘Mr. Pawlett, controller of household to the king's grace’. 2 Whose error this was is not immediately clear.
