Sir Bedivere the Cupbearer

… Sir Bedivere was King Arthur’s cupbearer. Evidence of cupbearers serving at medieval courts survives from ancient times. They are there in the Old Testament, when Solomon met Sheba. They are there in the Iliad, pouring ambrosia into golden goblets for the gods on Mount Olympus. They were there in ancient Egypt, standing beside the Pharoah in a gold-glimmering throne room.

There is even a report, roughly contemporary with Arthur, of a “Count of the Cupbearers,” serving in Visigothic Spain. This meant there was literally a corps of cupbearers with a nobleman at their head, who served as Chief Cupbearer. The other cupbearers would have waited on the king's royal guests.

It is likely that this arrangement, with Bedivere as Chief Cupbearer, is what would have obtained in King Arthur’s court…