Conseil du Roi in the context of Great Plague of Marseille

In France, the Conseil d'État ([kɔ̃sɛj deta]; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme administrative court (one of the two branches of the French judiciary system). Established in 1799 by Napoleon as a successor to the King's Council (Conseil du Roi), it is located in the Palais-Royal in Paris and is primarily made up of top-level legal officers. The Vice President of the Council of State ranks as the ninth most important civil servant in France.

Members of the Council of State are part of a Grand Corps of the French State (Grand corps de l'État). The Council of State mainly recruits from among the top-ranking students graduating from the École nationale d'administration.

Marie de' Medici (French: Marie de Médicis; Italian: Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV. Marie served as regent of France between 1610 and 1617 during the minority of her son Louis XIII. Her mandate as regent legally expired in 1614, when her son reached the age of majority, but she refused to resign and continued as regent until she was removed by a coup in 1617.

Marie was a member of the powerful House of Medici in the branch of the grand dukes of Tuscany. Her family's wealth inspired Henry IV to choose Marie as his second wife after his divorce from his previous wife, Margaret of Valois. The assassination of her husband in 1610, which occurred the day after her coronation, caused her to act as regent for her son, Louis XIII, until 1614, when he officially attained his legal majority, but as the head of the Conseil du Roi, she retained the power.

In the Middle Ages, a familiaris (plural familiares), more formally a familiaris regis ("familiar of the king") or familiaris curiae ("of the court"), was, in the words of the historian W. L. Warren, "an intimate, a familiar resident or visitor in the [royal] household, a member of the familia, that wider family which embraces servants, confidents, and close associates." Warren adds that the term "defies adequate translation", but is distinct from courtier, "for the king employed his familiares on a variety of administrative tasks."

The familiares of a king are collectively referred to as the familia regis, which evolved into a private royal council—in England during the reign of Henry III (1216–72) and in France during that of Philip V (1316–22). In England, it was known as the concilium familiare or concilium privatum (Privy Council) and in France as the magnum consilium (great council, the Conseil du Roi). The familiares regis may have already formed an inner royal council in Sicily during the reign of Roger II (1130–54).

Geheimrat was the title of the highest advising officials at the imperial, royal, or princely courts of the Holy Roman Empire, who jointly formed the Geheimer Rat reporting to the ruler. The term remained in use during subsequent monarchic reigns in German-speaking areas of Europe until the end of the First World War. At its origin the literal meaning of the word in German was 'trusted advisor'; the word "geheim" (secret) implies that such an advisor could be trusted with the Monarch's secrets (similar to "secretary" in English being linguistically related to "secret"). The English-language equivalent is Privy Councillor.

The office contributing to the state's politics and legislation had its roots in the age of absolutism from the 17th century onward, when a governmental administration by a dependent bureaucracy was established similar to the French Conseil du Roi. A precursor was the Reichshofrat, a judicial body established by Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg. In Austria, the professional title of Hofrat (also Hofrath, Court Councillor) has remained in use as an official title for deserved civil servants up to today.