The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Sunday 30 May 2004

The Queen's Orders of Chivalry

It’s gong time again! The Queen’s Birthday honours will be announced in early June, one of the two times a year when large numbers of honours are handed out, the other being New Year. But what are all these orders, with their titles and letters after peoples’ names?

Orders of chivalry had their origins in the religious orders of the Medieval Church, and in particular those created in the Holy Land during the crusades. Amongst the most famous of these crusader orders were the Order of the Knights Templar, a fighting order, and the Order of St. John, a hospital order which still exists today. It didn’t take long for fighting orders of knights to emerge under the auspices of monarchs rather than the church, particularly in Iberia where Christians and Muslims were in conflict for control of the peninsula. By the 14th century, new orders were created to support and enhance the prestige of kings rather than fighting infidels. Amongst these were the English Order of the Garter (1348), the Danish Order of the Elephant (1462) and the Burgundian Order of the Golden Fleece (1430), which later split into two separate institutions, one Austrian and the other Spanish.

In England, the Garter remained the only order of chivalry until the eighteenth century, and was limited to an exclusive group of 24 knights. However, most knights were not members of an order at all, but knights bachelor. Although knighthood was originally synonymous with leadership in warfare, over time it became customary to confer it on other leading figures in society too, presaging the modern practice of granting them to high achievers in almost any walk of life.

The second order of chivalry to be formally created in Britain was a Scottish equivalent of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, created by James VII and II in 1687. The Order of the Bath followed in 1725. An Irish equivalent of the Garter, The Order of St. Patrick, was added in 1783, although most of the recipients were British rather than Irish.

The early orders admitted only one class of member, the knight, but when the French Revolutionary government created Legion of Honour in 1802, it set the precedent for creating orders as rewards for merit, with several classes of award. The British Crown followed suit in the early 19th century, creating a three class Order of St. Michael & St. George and dividing the Order of the Bath (and the Hanoverian Royal Guelphic Order) into three classes as well. For the first time, admission into an order didn't necessarily involve knighthood, as the third class (companion) did not carry this honour.

During Queen Victoria's reign, a number of new orders were created, including two which rewarded service in India - the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire. Like the Bath and St. Michael & St. George, these were three-class orders, but whereas the first class of the older orders was called Knight Grand Cross, that of the Indian orders was Knight Grand Commander, since a reference to the Christian cross seemed inappropriate for this largely non-Christian land. In 1859, the British Crown also took over two orders from the East India Company, which governed India prior to that date – the Indian Order of Merit and the Order of British India. Both of these were awarded to members of the Indian Army.

The Royal Victorian Order was created in 1896 as a personal award of the sovereign, as opposed to the others which were awarded on ministerial recommendation. This order had five classes instead of three.

Women were not usually admitted to these orders, but Queen Victoria also created some exclusively female orders, including the Royal Order of Victoria & Albert and the Order of the Crown of India, both now defunct.

Edward VII added the Order of Merit in 1902 (the first order to admit women on equal terms with men). This order was and still is very exclusive, being limited to 24 members, but its single class did not confer any title. Nevertheless, it is very prestigious, and is often awarded to eminent people in the sciences and arts. It ranks above all knighthoods except the Garter, Thistle and Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. The Imperial Service Order, for long and meritorious service in the Civil Service, was also established in 1902.

The last phase in the creation of British orders came in 1917, with the establishment of the Order of the British Empire and the Order of Companions of Honour. The five-class Order of the British Empire is the most widely conferred, as a reward for achievement in almost any sphere.

Following the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, admissions to the Order of St. Patrick ceased, except for two royal awards in the 1930s. The order became defunct with the death of its last knight, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, in 1974.

Awards of the Indian orders ceased with Indian independence in 1947, leaving us largely with the system of orders we have today. The admission of women into the male orders began with the Order of the British Empire in 1917, but it wasn't until 1971 that the orders of the Bath and St. Michael & St. George were opened to women, and 1986 when the Garter and Thistle were opened to females in general, rather than only to royal and foreign women. The female equivalent of a knight is a dame, except in the Garter and Thistle, where it's a lady.

With some exceptions, honours are made on the recommendation of the Prime Minister or other ministers (the Foreign Secretary for diplomatic awards and the Defence Secretary for military ones). The exceptions, where the decision is the Queen's alone, are the orders of the Garter, Thistle, Merit and the Royal Victorian Order.

The nature of the insignia of orders varies depending on the class awarded. There are five basic classes. The first class consists of knights and ladies of the Garter and Thistle, and Knights and Dames Grand Cross of other orders, and they wear a star of the order on the left side of their chest with a badge suspended from a sash, which extends over the shoulder (left for Garter and Thistle, right for others) down to rest on the opposite hip. On special "collar days," they wear the badge on a collar instead of a sash. The second class is Knights and Dames Commanders, who wear a simpler star and the badge of the order on a neck riband (knights) or bow at the shoulder (dames). Companions (Bath, St. Micheal & St. George and Companions of Honour), Commanders (Royal Victorian Order and British Empire) and Members of the Order of Merit wear their badge on a neck riband (men) or bow (women). The fourth class (officers of the British Empire and Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order) and fifth class (members of the British Empire and Royal Victorian Order) wear their respective badges on medal ribands (men) or bows (women). The badge for each class is slightly different, higher classes being more ornate than lower ones.

Brief mention should be made of the Royal Family Orders. These are decorations awarded by the monarch only to female members of the Royal Family. There is a different decoration for each reign, bearing a miniature portrait of the monarch surrounded by diamonds.

British honours were awarded throughout all Her Majesty's realms and territories, with each realm government recommending their own citizens, although Canada chose not to recommend titular honours (knighthoods and damehoods) starting in 1919 (although one Prime Minister, R.B. Bennett did so between 1930 and 1935). In 1967, Canada began to move away from this shared honours system, by creating its own Order of Canada, which is now awarded in the three classes of Companion, Officer and Member. Jamaica followed suit in 1968, as did other realms over the following decades. Some included knighthoods and damehoods in their own orders, while others chose not to, or began with titular honours but have since discontinued them (e.g. Australia and New Zealand). There is now a mixture of realms which award only their own national honours, which award only British honours, and which award both.

A full (I hope!) list of orders of the Queen’s realms can be found at http://www.jpjnet.freeserve.co.uk/queensorders.htm   I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a more extensive website on orders of chivalry.

- Paul James