The annual Garter Day service takes place today (Monday, June 17) and will see the King, Queen and other members of the royal family commemorating the ancient Order of the Garter.
Garter Day sees Ladies and Knights of the Order of the Garter – the country’s oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry – process down the hill from the Berkshire castle’s State Apartments to St George’s Chapel, dressed in white plumed hats and dark-blue velvet robes, watched by crowds.
The installation of the new Companions of the Order will take place during the service. It was announced in April that composer Andrew Lloyd-Webber, whose hit musicals include The Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, has been made a Knight Companion.
Also being invested will be the Duchess of Gloucester as a Royal Lady of the Garter, as well as Lord Kakkar, emeritus professor of surgery at University College London, and Air Chief Marshal the Lord Stuart Peach, who have both been made Knight Companions.
What is it?
The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain.
It is celebrated every year with a procession and service in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Set up in medieval times, King Edward III "was so inspired by tales of King Arthur and the chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table that he created his own group of honourable knights, called the Order of the Garter”.
The knights, now both male and female, used to be only reserved for the aristocracy, but today they are chosen from different backgrounds to honour their public service.
There are 24 spaces for the Knights and Ladies Companion in the Order.
On Garter Day, appointments are formally invested in the Garter Throne Room by the monarch.
Who are the members of the Order?
King Charles is now the Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter – he appoints members himself.
The current members are split into Knights and Ladies Companion, Stranger Knights, and Ladies Companion and Royal Knights and Ladies Companion.
The Royal Knights and Ladies in the Order are:
King Charles
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
Princess Anne
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Princess Alexandra
Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince William
Queen Camilla.
The Stranger Knights and Ladies Companion are foreign royals given honorary inclusion. They are:
Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark
Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden
King Juan Carlos I of Spain
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands
Emperor Akihito of Japan
Harald V, King of Norway
Felipe VI, King of Spain
Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands.
The remaining Knights and Ladies Companion, invited due to their work or achievements, are:
James Hamilton, the Duke of Abercorn
Baron Butler of Brockwell, the former cabinet secretary
Sir John Major, former prime minister
Baron Luce, former lord chamberlain
Sir Thomas Dunne, a former lord-lieutenant
Baron Phillips Worth Matravers, former lord chief justice
Baron Stirrup, former chief of the defence staff
Baroness Manningham-Buller, former director general of the Security Service
Baron King of Lothbury, former Governor of the Bank of England
The 5th Baron Shuttleworth, Lord-Lieutenant of Lancashire
Alan Brooke, 3rd Viscount Brookeborough, Lord in Waiting to the King
Lady Mary Fagan, former Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire
Baron Gascoyne-Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury and former Leader of the House of Lords
Lady Mary Peters, Olympic gold medallist and former Lord-Lieutenant of Belfast
Baroness Amos, former leader of the House of Lords
Sir Tony Blair, former prime minister
Baroness Ashton of Upholland, former leader of the House of Lords
Baron Patten of Barnes, former chair of the BBC Trust
