The Most Noble Order of the Garter is the highest order of chivalry in the United Kingdom and one of the oldest European orders of chivalry. The order was established in 1348 by King Edward III of England.
According to tradition, an event at the court led to the creation of the famous order. During a ball, the king’s dancing partner Edward III, the Countess of Salisbury, is said to have lost a garter, after which the king picked it up and tied her to his own leg to reassure her. The king is said to have said:
“Honi soit qui mal y pense.” (“Shame on the one who thinks evil of it”)
This is still the motto of the knighthood. The kings of England, today the United Kingdom, are the sovereigns of the Order. Initially, it was intended that three hundred experienced knights would become members of the Order. However, it did not come to that. Barbara Tuchman in her book The Mad Fourteenth Century :
“When the order was formally confirmed, it was reduced to an exclusive circle of twenty-six knights with Saint George as the patron saint and blue and gold as the colors of their official vestments.”
Support
The statutes stated that the Order would be purely courtly and secular and pursued no religious goals. An important provision of the Order used to be that members were never allowed to leave the king’s realm without his permission. King Edward III wanted to bind the powerful nobility with the knighthood. He also secured military support. Members of the Order were never allowed to leave the battlefield on their own.
The great ceremonial uniform of the Order consists of a gold necklace with jewels, a velvet cloak with train, for the men a doublet with puffer trousers and a headdress with ostrich feathers. The main symbol is the blue velvet garter, with the saying Honi soit qui mal y pense on it . Knights of the Order of the Garter are given their own stall or seat in the choir at St George’s Chapel in Windsor , surmounted by their standard and coat of arms. After the death of a member of the knighthood, his standard is solemnly removed.
Members
The Order of the Garter has four different types of members:
- Members ex officio (reigning monarch and the Prince of Wales)
- Royal Knights (members of the royal family)
- Stranger Knights and Ladies (foreign monarchs and queens, also called Extra Knights and Ladies)
- Knights and Ladies Companion
In addition to Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth , the knighthood has a maximum of twenty-four members. In principle, members remain members until their death. In exceptional cases, members may be expelled from the Order. This happened, for example, during the Second World War . The Japanese Emperor Hirohito was then expelled from the Order for misconduct against the British crown. In 1971 he was re-admitted. During the First World War , among others, the German Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha were expelled from the order.
In addition to knights, the order also has six officers: the Prelate , the Chancellor , the Register , the Garter Principal King of Arms , the Usher and the Secretary.
For some time in the nineteenth century, the British cabinet had the power to nominate knights. Since 1946, the appointment of knights has again been the prerogative of the Crown.
During the installation of new members, all members gather in ceremonial uniform. The members walk together to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. There the monarch ties the garter around the leg of the new member. Queen Elizabeth lately, because of her advanced age, has this done by a page.
Order of the Star
A few years after the founding of the Order of the Garter, King John II of France also established a knighthood: the Order of the Star. This had to compete with the English order. The French king wanted his knighthood to include a large group and therefore opened it to five hundred members.
A more famous knighthood is the Order of the Golden Fleece . Founded in 1430 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, it still exists today.