The retroactive and informal position of chief minister was given to the various personages who presided over the government of England and subsequently Great Britain at the pleasure of the monarch, usually with said monarch's permission, prior to the government under Robert Walpole as Prime Minister in 1721. The "chief ministership", being an informal capacity, had many titles, sometimes none at all, and while usually a single person, could be held by groups of up to three or four.