Order of the Garter

FiveParadox

Governor General
Dec 20, 2005
5,875
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Vancouver, BC
Today, Her Majesty The Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Canada, and Her Majesty’s other Commonwealth Realms, participated in the ceremonial service of The Most Noble Order of the Garter. The Order is the oldest knighthood Order on Earth, and is awarded at the personal discretion of The Queen (that is, the Government of the United Kingdom has no right to advise Her Majesty as to new memberships for the Order). The Order was created in 1348 by the late His Majesty Edward III, King of the Kingdom of England, France, and Lord of Ireland (as The Sovereign was then known).

Edward III is thought to have founded the Order in order to represent the sort of prestigious group that King Arthur would have had—and as such, originally thought to create an “Order of the Round Table”, complete with a membership of three hundred, and a massive table to accomodate the entire membership. Instead, Edward III ended up ordering the construction of twenty-five stalls for knights, with a place for His Majesty at the head—and thus, these knights and Edward III became the original membership of the Order of the Garter, and the membership has continued to develop to this day (though there may, at no time, be more than twenty-five Companions of the Order, excluding The Sovereign, and any supernumerary members).

Source
  • Click here for the Web site of The Royal Family of Canada (article).
  • Click here for the Web site of The Chapel of the College of St George (article).