In the Royal Household of the United Kingdom the term Woman of the Bedchamber is used to describe a woman (usually a daughter of a peer

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

) attending either a queen regnant

Queen regnant

A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....

 or queen consort

Queen consort

A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...

, in the role of Lady-in-Waiting. Queens Regnant or Consort also have Ladies of the Bedchamber

Lady of the Bedchamber

This is an incomplete list of those who have served as Lady of the Bedchamber in the British Royal Household...

 (typically wives or widows of peers above the rank of earl

Earl

An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...

), and the senior Lady-in-Waiting

Lady-in-waiting

A lady-in-waiting is a female personal assistant at a royal court, attending on a queen, a princess, or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman from a family highly thought of in good society, but was of lower rank than the woman on whom she...

 is the Mistress of the Robes

Mistress of the Robes

The Mistress of the Robes is the senior lady of the British Royal Household. Formerly responsible for the Queen's clothes and jewellery, the post now has the responsibility for arranging the rota of attendance of the Ladies in Waiting on the Queen, along with various duties at State ceremonies...

. In everyday usage, these ladies are termed Ladies-in-Waiting. The Women of the Bedchamber are usually in regular attendance, but the Mistress of the Robes and the Ladies of the Bedchamber are normally only required for ceremonial occasions. More junior female members of the Royal Family

British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...

 also have friends to assist them on public engagements, who are known only as 'Ladies-in-Waiting'.

The current Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II is Susan Hussey, Baroness Hussey of North Bradley

Susan Hussey, Baroness Hussey of North Bradley

Susan Hussey, Baroness Hussey of North Bradley, DCVO is a Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II.She was born Lady Susan Katherine Waldegrave, the fifth and youngest daughter of the 12th Earl Waldegrave...

. Lady Susan is also godmother to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.