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Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the Monarch of the United Kingdom. In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without hyphenation).
There are two kinds of lord-in-waiting: political appointees by the government of the day who serve as junior government Chief Whip in the House of Lords (the senior whips have the positions of Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard); and non-political appointments by the monarch (who, if they have a seat in the House of Lords, sit as crossbenchers). Lords-in-waiting (whether political or non-political) may be called upon periodically to represent the sovereign; for example, one of their number is regularly called upon to greet visiting heads of state on arrival at an airport at the start of a state or official visit, and they may then play a role in accompanying them for the duration of their stay (for instance, on 3 June 2019 lord-in-waiting Alan Brooke, 3rd Viscount Brookeborough was in attendance at London Stansted Airport to welcome U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on behalf of the Queen; he and Viscountess Brookeborough then remained "specially attached" to the Trumps for the duration of their visit).Court Circular, Buckingham Palace, 3 June 2019. They are also occasionally in attendance on other state or royal occasions. "Extra" lords-in-waiting may also be appointed, supernumerary to the regular appointees, who fulfil a similar role; for example, Baroness Rawlings, whose appointment as a government whip (and baroness-in-waiting) ceased in 2012, continued to serve as an extra baroness-in-waiting, UK Parliament website biographical page and represented the Queen on certain occasions (for example on 27 February 2019 she was present at RAF Northolt to welcome the King Abdullah II and Queen Rania of Jordan, while at the same time another baroness-in-waiting, Baroness Manzoor, was present at Heathrow Airport to welcome Borut Pahor, president of Slovenia).Court Circular, Buckingham Palace, 27 February 2019.
In addition, the honour of serving as a permanent lord-in-waiting is occasionally bestowed on very senior courtiers following their retirement. A permanent lord-in-waiting may also represent the sovereign, as often happens at funerals or memorial services for former courtiers.
Currently, there are nine lords and baronesses-in-waiting, who serve as junior whips in the House of Lords:
| Lord-in-waiting | Sonny Leong, Baron Leong | 11 July 2024 |
| Phil Wilson, Baron Wilson of Sedgefield | 10 February 2025 | |
| Mike Katz, Baron Katz | 11 April 2025 | |
| Gerard Lemos, Baron Lemos | 22 July 2025 | |
| Baroness-in-waiting | Sharon Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Stevenage | 9 July 2024 |
| Ruth Smeeth, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent | 11 July 2024 | |
| Fiona Twycross, Baroness Twycross | 11 July 2024 | |
| Judith Blake, Baroness Blake of Leeds | 11 July 2024 | |
| Liz Lloyd, Baroness Lloyd of Effra | 11 September 2025 |
Those currently serving in this capacity are:Court Circular, Buckingham Palace
| Personal lord-in-waiting | Alan Brooke, 3rd Viscount Brookeborough Biography on UK Parliament website | 1 May 1997 |
| Henry Hood, 8th Viscount Hood | 30 July 2008 | |
Those currently serving in this capacity are:Court Circular, Buckingham Palace
| Extra baroness-in-waiting | Patricia Rawlings, Baroness Rawlings | 2012 |
| Extra lord-in-waiting | Anthony St John, 22nd Baron St John of Bletso | 19 March 1998 |
| David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley | 17 March 2023 |
| Richard Luce, Baron Luce | 16 July 2007 |
| William Peel, 3rd Earl Peel | 1 April 2021 |
| Robin Janvrin, Baron Janvrin | 13 November 2007 |
| Christopher Geidt, Baron Geidt | 4 March 2019 |
| Edward Young, Baron Young of Old Windsor | 15 May 2023 |
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