William to receive Garter honour

12 April 2012

Prince William is due to be made a Royal Knight of the Garter by the Queen.

He will be formally appointed to the most senior British order of chivalry at a service in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The Order of the Garter, established by Edward III in 1348, is in the Queen's personal gift, without advice from government ministers.

Knights of the Garter are chosen to honour those who have held public office, who have contributed to national life or who have served the Queen personally.

William becomes a Royal Knight Companion - and the 1,000th Knight in the Register. The position recognises his seniority within the Royal Family.

His father, the Prince of Wales, received the honour in 1958, the Princess Royal in 1994, and the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex in 2006. The Duke of Edinburgh was created a Royal Knight in 1947 - the year he married Princess Elizabeth.

Royal Knights are additional to the 24 Knights Companion - the maximum permitted.

These were depleted by the deaths of former Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath and the conqueror of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary. Lord Luce, who was Lord Chamberlain from 2000 to 2006 and Sir Thomas Dunne, Lord-Lieutenant of Hereford since 1977 and chairman of the Lord Lieutenants Association have been appointed to take their places. Other non-royal members of the order include former prime ministers Baroness Thatcher and Sir John Major.

The new appointments were announced on St George's Day, but the chivalric and installation ceremonies traditionally take place in June, on the Monday of Royal Ascot week, known as Garter Day.

As a Knight, William will wear a blue velvet cape and black velvet hat with elaborate white ostrich plumes and join the procession from the Castle's state apartments to the church.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in