THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1141, 31 May 1911, Page 11

THE ORDER OF THE GARTER.

Four Knights of the Garter will hold tho King's canopy at the time of his Majesty's Coronation, say-, an English writer. This subject has l>:on much discussed, and it seems that many of us have vague ideas as to the variotir. orders of knighthood. There are eight leading onltrs, of which the most important are tho Garter, the Thistle, and the St. Patrick. . Not one of these is hereditary,, although Knights of the Garter, even if only commoners, take precedence of baronets. These three orders have come to be restricted to nobles, but. the rule has been proved by one or two exceptions. Sir Robert Walpolp., received the Garter as a commoner, before he became Earl of Orford. Sir Robert Peel refiuod it. It is said that the late Mr. Gladstone was offered the Garter on his retirement. He also refused it. but his friends declare that it was the only honour which he could have' accepted without loss of dignity. The Thi.'-tle was bestowed on Hie late Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, a Scotch baronet of great possessions. The Order of the Garter was instituted about 1318, and had Edward 111 as its founder. The order was originally founded in.honour of the Holy Trinity, the Virgin Mary, St. George of Cappadocia. and Edward the. Confessor; but St. George was always accounted its-special patron, so much so that it has sometimes been called the Order of St. George. By its original constitution the Knight's Companions were to be twenty-five, exclusive' of the Sovereign, and were to assemble yearly, on Iho eve of St. George's Day, in St. George's Chapel. Windsor. Subsequent statutes authorised in addition to the twenty-five knights of a. few foreigners of distinction. One of the curious features of this order, and which distinguishes it from all others, is that lady knights may be admitted as members. Quesn Victoria, as a reigning monarch, wore the Garter, and so does our present Queen and Queen Alexandra. Tho statutes of the order bind every knight to wear the badge—or George—at till "times and places, a rule, needless to say, more honoured in the breach than the observance. And a, trndition of the order requires a knight dining with a brother knight to wear it in honour of the occasion. . Hence one often meets the riband- at dinners, balls, and . parties; but as knee breeches are only worn when the Sovereign is present, it often becomes impossible to display the actual garter. Th<? blue riband is, however, \ worn on those occasions. This order may bo said to rank undeniably as the first in the world, and is the rarest honour that can be bestowed by a British Sovereign.