The Royal Almonry is a small office within the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, headed by the Lord High Almoner, an office dating from 1103. The almoner is responsible for distributing alms to the poor.

The Lord High Almoner is a diocesan bishop of the Church of England. The current holder of the office is the Lord Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel Simeon McCulloch, appointed 1997. There is also an hereditary Grand Almoner, an office dating from 1685 and vested in the person of the Marquess of Exeter, but this is not an office of the Royal Almonry and he has no role to play. The actual work of the office is undertaken by the Sub-Almoner, who is also the Deputy Clerk of the Closet of the Ecclesiastical Household, Sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, and Domestic Chaplain at Buckingham Palace.

There are in addition a Secretary, and Assistant Secretary, both offices of which are shared with other Royal Household appointments. There are also half a dozen wandsmen.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. She is also head of state of the Crown Dependencies.

Elizabeth was born in London, and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.