Garter Service highlights: Duchess of Cornwall installed as Royal Lady of the Order, Baroness Amos is first Black Lady Companion
For the first time since 2019, the Garter Procession took place in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Due to her mobility problems Queen Elizabeth II did not join in the procession and in the service at St. George's Chapel. She did, however, participate in investing the new Knights at a ceremony in Windsor Castle, and a lunch in the Castle after the chapel service.
In the ceremony, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall was installed
as Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. Valerie Anne, Baroness
Amos, was also invested Lady Companion of the Order, while Former Prime
Minister Tony Blair was installed as Knight Companion.
Baroness Amos made history thus far as the first black
person to be appointed to the Order. A British Labour Party politician and
diplomat, she served as the eighth UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she
served as British High Commissioner to Australia. She was created a life peer
in 1997, serving as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the
Council from 2003 to 2007. Since September 2020, Amos has been Master of
University College, Oxford, succeeding Sir Ivor Crewe and becoming the
first-ever black head of an Oxford college, as well as the first female appointed
to the post.
Noticeably absent in the public aspects of the Garter
ceremony was Prince Andrew, Duke of York, although he joined the investiture
and lunch.
The Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest
order of chivalry and the United Kingdom’s third most prestigious honour, next to
the Victoria Cross and George Cross. The Knights, now both male and female,
used to be limited to aristocracy, but today they are chosen from a variety of
backgrounds, in recognition for their public service. The Order includes the
Queen, who is Sovereign of the Garter, several senior Members of the Royal
Family, and twenty-four knights chosen in recognition of their work. Knights of
the Garter are chosen personally by the Sovereign to honour those who have held
public office, who have contributed in a particular way to national life or who
have served the Sovereign personally.
Dressed in grand velvet robes, glistening insignia and plumed hats, the Knights process to St George’s Chapel, accompanied by a marching band and Officers of the Order.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 13, 2022
St George is the Patron Saint of the Order and therefore St George’s Chapel is the Order’s spiritual home. pic.twitter.com/qZFSe72CQK
This afternoon the Garter Day procession took place in the grounds of Windsor Castle for the first time in three years.
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 13, 2022
Garter Day usually takes place each June and is attended by the Knights of the Order of the Garter, the oldest British Order of Chivalry. pic.twitter.com/CVmV0cyh88
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