The Most Noble Order of The Garter, one of the most prestigious chivalric orders in the UK, is headquartered at the Military Guard Quarters at Windsor Castle, across from their chapel, the Chapel of St. George's. The Military Guard Quarters bear the arms of the Order of the Garter on their north side.
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"The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry and the third most prestigious honour (inferior only to the Victoria Cross and George Cross) in England and the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George, England's patron saint.
It is awarded at the Sovereign's pleasure as a personal gift on recipients from the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms. Membership of the Order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than 24 members, or Companions. The order also includes supernumerary knights and ladies (e.g. members of the British Royal Family and foreign monarchs).
New appointments to the Order of the Garter are always announced on St George's Day (23 April), as Saint George is the order's patron saint.
The order's emblem is a garter with the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense (Middle French: "shame on him who thinks evil of it") in gold lettering. Members of the order wear it on ceremonial occasions.
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Members
Membership in the Order is strictly limited and includes the Monarch, the Prince of Wales, not more than 24 companion members, and various supernumerary members. The monarch alone can grant membership.[11] He or she is known as the Sovereign of the Garter, and the Prince of Wales is known as a Royal Knight Companion of the Garter.
Male members of the Order are titled "Knights Companion" and female members are called "Ladies Companion". Formerly, the Sovereign filled vacancies upon the nomination of the members. Each member would nominate nine candidates, of whom three had to have the rank of earl or higher, three the rank of baron or higher, and three the rank of knight or higher. The Sovereign would choose as many nominees as were necessary to fill any vacancies in the Order. He or she was not obliged to choose those who received the most nominations. Candidates were last nominated in 1860, and appointments have since been made by the Sovereign acting alone, with no prior nominations. The statutes prescribing the former procedure were not amended, however, until 1953.
From the 18th century, the Sovereign made his or her choices on the advice of the Government. In 1946, with the agreement of the Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the Leader of the Opposition Winston Churchill, membership of the United Kingdom's highest ranking Orders of Chivalry (the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle and the dormant Order of St. Patrick) became a personal gift of the Sovereign once again. Thus, the Sovereign personally selects Knights and Ladies Companion of the Garter, and need not act on or solicit the advice of His or Her Government.
In addition, the Order includes supernumerary members, who do not count towards the limit of 24 companions. Several supernumerary members, known as "Royal Knights and Ladies of the Garter", belong to the royal family. These titles were introduced in 1786 by King George III so that his many sons would not count towards the limit on the number of companions. He created the statute of supernumerary members in 1805 so that any descendant of King George II could be installed as such a member. In 1831, this statute was extended again to include all descendants of King George I.
With the installation of Emperor Alexander I of Russia in 1813, supernumerary membership was extended to foreign monarchs, who are known as "Stranger Knights and Ladies of the Garter". Each such installation originally required the enactment of a statute; however, a 1954 statute authorises the regular admission of Stranger Knights or Ladies without further special enactments. In lesser orders of chivalry, such foreign members would be regarded as having received honorary knighthoods.
Traditionally, reigning European monarchs are admitted to the Order as Strangers. Constantine II, King of the Hellenes, neither in his short reign nor since he was deposed in 1973, has succeeded his father Paul of Greece as a member of the Order. Similarly, Albert II, King of the Belgians and his son and successor Philippe are the only Belgian monarchs to date not to have been admitted to the Order. For a time, both Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands and her successor, Queen Beatrix were concurrently members of the Order as Stranger Ladies of the Garter.
Akihito, Emperor of Japan is the only non-European monarch and likely the only non-Christian who is currently a member of the Order. He is the fourth (consecutive) Emperor of Japan to be a Stranger Knight.
The first non-Christian ruler to be admitted to the Order was Abdülmecid I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, in 1856 as a Stranger Knight.
The first, and to date only, member of the Order from South America was Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil, created a Stranger Knight in 1871. He was a member of the House of Braganza, the ruling house of Portugal and Brazil.
The first member of the Order admitted from Asia was Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, King of Persia, created a Stranger Knight in 1873. His immediate successor was also admitted to the Order in 1903, to be followed by the Meiji, Emperor of Japan in 1906.
The first, and to date only, member of the Order from Africa was Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, created a Stranger Knight in 1954.
The first knight from Australasia or Oceania was Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey, an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia, created a Knight Companion in 1969. Subsequently, two more Australians, Sir Paul Hasluck and Sir Ninian Stephen, were appointed. Three New Zealanders have been appointed: Charles, Lord Elworthy, Sir Keith Holyoake, and Sir Edmund Hillary.
There have been no appointments from North America."