Great Offices of State have come close to achieving this distinction: Herbert Henry Asquith and Winston Churchill both served as Chancellor, Prime Minister and Home Secretary while Harold Macmillan and John Major served as Prime Minister, Chancellor and Foreign Secretary. Rab Butler and Sir John Simon served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary. Two of the Great Offices of State have often been held simultaneously by one person, most recently by Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary in 1924; Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, is the only person to have held three of the Great Offices simultaneously, serving
State Procession at the State Opening of Parliament the monarch's residence where he holds a Member of Parliament 'hostage' pending the monarch's safe return. Until 1998 two Gentleman Ushers were in the procession, in addition to the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod and the Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State (who conveys the sword to and from the Palace of Westminster). Gentleman Ushers have been in attendance at State Openings since at least the 15th century. Until 1998 the Queen was attended by three Ladies in Waiting: a Woman of the Bedchamber, a Lady of the Bedchamber and the Mistress of the Robes; subsequently only two