Board of Green Cloth

The Board of Green Cloth was a board of officials belonging to the Royal Household of England and Great Britain.[1] It took its name from the tablecloth of green baize that covered the table at which its members sat.

It audited the accounts of the Royal Household and made arrangements for royal travel. It also sat as a court upon offences committed within the verge of the palace. While it existed until modern times, its jurisdiction was more recently limited to the sale of alcohol, betting and gaming licences for premises falling within the areas attached to or governed by the Royal Palaces.

Until 2004, the Board had jurisdiction as a licensing authority over a number of premises in Westminster (that were within the "verge" of Buckingham Palace) that would have otherwise been the responsibility of the local magistrates' court, including Carlton House Terrace, the northern end of Whitehall and the National Gallery.[2] The Board of Green Cloth disappeared in the reform of local government licensing in 2004, brought about by the Licensing Act 2003 (section 195).[3] However, royal palaces remained outside the scope of the Act, and do not require a premises license to serve alcohol.[4]

The members of the Board were:[5]

References
  1. The political state of the British Empire. 1818. p. 179. Retrieved 30 April 2019. The Board of Green Cloth is one of the most ancient courts in England, and has jurisdiction in all offences committed in ...
  2. "Explanatory Notes to section 195, Licensing Act 2003". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  3. Rogers, R. (2012). Who Goes Home: A Parliamentary Miscellany. Biteback Publishing. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-84954-480-1. Retrieved 30 April 2019. The Board of Green Cloth audited the accounts of the Royal Household and sat as a court on offences committed on ... for premises controlled by the Royal Palaces, and did not finally disappear until 2004, following the Licensing Act 2004.
  4. "section 193, Licensing Act 2003". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
  5. The Republican. T. Davison. 1820. p. 476. Retrieved 30 April 2019. The officers that sit in the counting-house, and at the board of green cloth, with their respective salaries, are, besides the lord steward in chief, the treasurer and cofferer of the household, the comp: troller, the master of the household, two clerks ...
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