Hi there, Today, the eventual future King, with a few years to go, Prince William of England, was installed into The Knights of the Garter. He
was the 1000th inductee, into this order. I love the pomp and ceremony of British Royalty. Prince William wore a black Tudor hat, with a white plume feather, a blue velvet cape, the Badge of
the Star, the Medallion of St George, and a garter on his leg. Forgive me for being shallow,
but the whole thing was a kick for me.
This order, as I understand it, originated from an incident, which occurred in 1348, at a party, where a woman,who was dancing,lost her garter,
the King picked the garter up and pinned it on himself, and said "let no man see evil in this act", and eventually the elite order, The Knights of the Garter were formed. There are only 25 members in the special group, women were added in 1987. All of the Queen's children, with the exception of Prince Harry, are members. Harry will be added at a later date, it is reported. Prince William's father, Prince Charles, was inducted exactly 40 years ago. The order was established some 660 years ago. The members are to be loyal and of service to the sovereign. The Queen and her husband, Prince Phillip, were given a wedding gift by King George, VI, in 1947 and both were inducted into the order. This order is the highest order, that the Queen can bestow. The Government had bestowed the honor, for a long time, until the Queen took the honor back in the forties. The chapel bells pealed in honor of Prince William's induction, he had been invested earlier, in April of this year. This was the formal ceremony, and the weather co-operated very well. Carry on Prince William.