chivalric orders

Jewel History: Princess Elizabeth Gets Ancient Order of Garter (1947)

11.02.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Princess Elizabeth wears the Order of the Garter, ca. 1950 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“Princess Elizabeth Gets Ancient Order of Garter”

(originally appeared in the Winnipeg Tribune, 12 Nov 1947)

London, Nov. 12 — Buckingham Palace announced Tuesday night that the King [1] has made Princess Elizabeth [2] a Lady of the Order of the Garter [3].

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (with Prince Charles) wears the Order of the Garter in Westminster Abbey at the 1953 coronation (AFP/Getty Images)

Princess Elizabeth joins the Queen [4], Queen Mother Mary [5], and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands [6] in the order with its insignia of kingfisher blue ribbon, diamond star, and motto, “Honi soit qui mal y pense” — “Evil be to him who evil thinks” [7].

Knights of the order wear a jeweled garter insignia about the left leg, but ladies make a bracelet of it and wear it about the left wrist [8].

Queen Mary wears the Garter insignia, including the actual garter on her upper arm (Wikimedia Commons)

The order was established by King Edward III in 1348. According to legend, it originated with a party at which the King was dancing with Joan, Countess of Salisbury. Joan’s garter fell to the floor during an intricate step. As some of the nobility snickered, the King picked it up and commented, “Honi soit qui mal y pense.”

Princess Elizabeth is expected to wear the Garter ribbon at her wedding to Lieutenant Mountbatten [9] on November 20 [10].

Philip and Elizabeth during their engagement, 1947 (AFP/Getty Images)

NOTES

1. King George VI of the United Kingdom (1895-1952) was the father of the present queen, Elizabeth II. As monarch, he was also Sovereign of the Order of the Garter. He presented his elder daughter, Princess Elizabeth, with the Garter about a week before her wedding.

2. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (born 1926) was still the heiress presumptive at the time of her wedding in 1947. Normally, the monarch’s (male) heir is generally made a Garter knight when he is made Prince of Wales — but since Elizabeth is a woman, she wasn’t granted that title. (Because sons automatically outranked daughters in the line of succession in Britain during this time, there was always the possibility that Queen Elizabeth could die, King George VI could remarry, and his prospective new wife could give birth to a son. If all of those things had happened, that new baby boy would have become heir to the throne, even though he would have had two older half-sisters. Elizabeth was always the heiress presumptive, never the heiress apparent, during her father’s reign.) Like all royals, Elizabeth was a “supernumerary” lady — she didn’t count toward the maximum total of 24 Garter knights.

3. The Order of the Garter is England’s senior order of chivalry. It is awarded solely at the discretion of the British monarch, who is also the sovereign of the order.

4. Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (1900-2002), nee Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was awarded the Garter in 1936, when her husband became King George VI.

5. Queen Mary of the United Kingdom (1867-1953), nee Princess Mary of Teck, was awarded the Garter on June 3, 1910, shortly after the accession of her husband, King George V.

6. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (1880-1962) was made a “stranger” lady of the order in September 1944. King George VI presented her with the order’s insignia in a private ceremony in London attended by only three people: himself, Wilhelmina, and her daughter, Princess Juliana. (Juliana, who succeeded her mother as queen, would also eventually be admitted to the order.) Wilhelmina was the first foreign queen to be made a member of the order.

7. “Honi soit qui mal y pense” is more frequently translated as “shame on him who thinks evil of it.”

8. Ladies wear the Garter around their upper arm, not their wrist. See the portrait of Queen Mary above.

9. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921) was plain Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at this point in history. On the day before his wedding to Princess Elizabeth, Philip was made a royal highness and a Knight of the Order of the Garter. The next morning, he was created Duke of Edinburgh. He was officially made a British prince in 1957.

10. Elizabeth did not wear the Garter for her wedding, but Philip wore the Garter star on his uniform.

Jewel History: A Royal Choice (1951)

06.19.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

“A Royal Choice”

(originally appeared in the Ottawa Journal, 18 May 1951)

The insignia of the Order of the Garter which the King [1] has bestowed on King Frederick of Denmark [2] in a State visit to this country, in a spectacular ceremony in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth [3], Queen Ingrid [4], and Princess Elizabeth [5] had been chosen with care.

By long custom, it has been the rule for all “collars” of the Orders of Chivalry to be returned to the King by the next of kin when their holders die. In the case of the Garter, the Thistle and St. Patrick it is usual for the King to give a personal audience. In other cases the collar is remitted through the post. By reason of its long history some of the collars are very old. Those in possession of the Royal Family [6] are believed to go back to the days of Henry VIII.

For the future all collars are to be registered so that posterity will be able to tell for certain who was wearing that particular jewel at that particular time. And future Kings of Denmark will wear the collar now to be given to King Frederick should they ever be made KGs [7].

NOTES

1. This was the final Order of the Garter service attended by King George VI of the United Kingdom (1895-1952), who died the following February.

2. King Frederik IX of Denmark (1899-1972), father of Queen Margrethe II.

3. Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (1900-2002), better known to us as the Queen Mother.

4. Queen Ingrid of Denmark (1910-2000), mother of Queen Margrethe II; she was the daughter of a British princess (Margaret of Connaught) and the stepdaughter of a Mountbatten (Queen Louise of Sweden).

5. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (1926-present), who, unbeknownst to her, was in her final year as a princess. On her father’s death in February 1952, she ascended to the throne.

6. In 1951, the British royal family included the following members of the Order of the Garter: King George VI (sovereign of the order), Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Windsor, and Queen Mary.

7. Frederik’s daughter, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, was made an Extra (or Stranger) Lady of the Order of the Garter in 1979.

No Crowns at Parliament in June

04.28.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

ALASTAIR GRANT/AFP/Getty Images

June is typically one of the sparkliest royal months in the United Kingdom, with Trooping the Colour, Garter Day, and Royal Ascot coming back-to-back. But this year, the recently-called elections will be changing a few things — and not for the better where royal jewels are concerned!

It was announced today that, because of the elections, the state opening of parliament has been moved to June 19. That was supposed to be Garter Day, but this year’s service has been cancelled by the Queen so that she can attend the state opening. No parade of royals in their formal Garter attire at Windsor this June, sadly.

But it gets even worse for royal jewel lovers: because of the shuffle, the state opening will be noticeably less formal this year. The Queen will not wear her crown or her robes, and she’ll be driven to parliament in a car, not a carriage. This kind of “dressed-down” state opening has happened before, but not since the 1970s. Unfortunately, it means we won’t see the kind of pageantry and finery that we’ve come to expect from the event.

So, bottom line: we’ll likely see a hat and brooch at parliament on June 19, and we’ll have to wait until next year to see the Garter knights and ladies at Windsor. What brooch do you hope HM will wear for the state opening? Something particularly grand, perhaps, to lend just a little bit of sparkle to a usually glittering occasion?