Women soon to join Order of Garter

Press, 26 November 1987, Page 47

Women soon to join Order of Garter

NZPA-Reuter London The Queen plans to admit women to two of Britain’s oldest orders of chivalry, the Garter and the Thistle, Buckingham Palace said. The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348 by King Edward 111, is the highest order of chivalry in England. Its Scottish equivalent, the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, was revived by King James II in 1687.

"The Queen decided to open the orders to women on her own initiative. The point is that she wanted to remove an element of discrimination,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

He declined to comment on a report in the “Daily Telegraph” that th.e Queen, who heads the

Order of the Garter, might make the Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, a knight of that order when she steps down from office. Two former Labour Prime Ministers, Lord Wilson and Lord Callaghan, are already Knights of the Garter and Lord Home, a former Conservative Prime Minister, is a Knight of the Thistle. When wearing ceremonial dress, Knights of the Garter wear a blue garter on their left leg below the knee. The Queen and other Ladies of the Garter wear it on their arm. Knights of the Thistle wear a green cloak. Mrs Thatcher, aged 62, is Britain’s longest serving Prime Minister this century. She would be the first woman outside Roy-

alty to join the order, which has two vacancies.

Mrs Thatcher said that there were still too few women in top British jobs and that she sent back lists of candidates for high posts unless they contained at least one woman’s name.

“I am always trying to get more women’s names put forward. Sometimes you find one or two, but if you are not careful the same names tend to be on everything,” she told a group which is campaigning for more women in Parliament.

“I do send them back because there must be others. There may be an enormous resource to tap and I still want more women at the top,” Mrs Thatcher said.