Today is the feast of St George and a day in which in England teh order of the Garter come sto mind as a celebration of knightly virtues on the day of our national patron saint.
In recent months I have found these posts about insignia from the Order in the Royal Collection on Pinterest and thought they could be shared to mark the occasion.
The first is taken from the Royal Collection website and is about the Stuart insignia on display in Edinburgh Castle alongside the Honours of Scotland:
The back of the figure of St George and the Dragon
Image: Pinterest from Royal Collection Trust website
This magnificent Great George was supplied
to Charles II in 1661 by the Royal goldsmith, Robert Vyner. It was
described as ‘A v. large enamelled George set with 20 large diamonds and
one hundred and odd lesser diamonds’. Charles II is depicted wearing
it, together with the new coronation regalia, in John Michael Wright’s
portrait of c.1670. The Great George was illustrated with Charles II’s
other insignia in Ashmole’s History of the Garter, 1672. It has
subsequently lost the flowing cloak worn by St George and the large
diamond-set fleur-de-lis suspension loop with which it was attached to
the collar. Some of the surviving stones are sixteenth century cuts and
indicative of the reuse of stones following the Restoration. The oak
leaves on the underside are, perhaps, an allusion to the Boscobel Oak in
which Charles II hid to escape from Cromwell’s forces after the Battle
of Worcester in 1651.
The Garter collar follows the style of
collars produced after the Restoration. Its construction is
significantly different from earlier seventeenth century collars and the
finish of the reverse suggests hasty production. Collars made
immediately after the Restoration included twenty-six roses and knots
and weighed around 30 oz. This collar, with its twenty-one knots and
weighing 33 oz 10 dwt, is therefore smaller in terms of knots and
garters. The Jewel House began supplying heavier collars with twenty-one
roses and knots in 1685 and it is therefore likely that this collar was
made shortly after James II’s accession.
Both collar and George
were taken by James II into exile in France in 1688. They appear as ‘A
Collar of the order with a George to it of Diamonds’ valued at 6,000
livres in James II’s posthumous inventory drawn up at Saint-Germain on
20 July 1703. Prince James Edward Stuart is depicted wearing them in
Francesco Trevisani’s portrait of c.1719-20.
The collar and
George were not listed with other pieces bequeathed to the Prince of
Wales by Henry Benedict, Cardinal York, in 1807. The Prince asked for
their whereabouts to be investigated and in 1811 William Hill took up
the task on the advice of General Mackenzie. Hill discovered that the
collar and George, which were described as being ‘once in possession of
Charles 2d’ had been given (by Cardinal York?) as security for debts.
The whereabouts of the pieces was still unresolved at the time of the
Congress of Vienna in 1814 and the topic was raised by the Prince Regent
with Cardinal Consalvi when the two men met in July of that year. The
Cardinal was able to inform the British Foreign Secretary, Lord
Castlereagh, of the condition of the items when they met in Vienna in
October 1815.
Although it is not known when the Prince received
the collar and George they were certainly in his possession by 1825 when
he wore the George at a Waterloo dinner at Carlton House: ‘He [George
IV] ... acquainted his guests that the George which he reserved for his
own wearing was the same which had been worn by Charles I, Charles II,
and James II and was bequeathed by Henry IX, Cardinal of York to the
present king’.
In 1830 the collar and George were deposited on
loan by William IV in Edinburgh Castle where they remain on display with
the Honours of Scotland.
Text adapted from Ancient and Modern Gems and Jewels in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2008
The Royal Collection website has a series of detailed expandable photographs of the items
here
This is a Lesser George - worn on the riband of the Order - with diamonds and a ruby dated to 1693-4 and in the Green Vault in Dresden
Image: Pinterest
A Lesser George probably made for King George II before 1752 and
possibly remounted for King George III in 1765. It was altered for Queen Victoria in
1858 when the eight large diamonds were replaced and used in the Coronation necklace, and replaced in the badge by clusters of smaller stones
Image: Pinterest from the Royal Collection Trust
A Great George that belonged to King George III
Dated to 1775-1800
Image: Pinterest from the Royal Collection Trust
The reverse of the Great George
Image: Pinterest from the Royal Collection Trust
One of the magnificent items bequeathed to the
Queen Elizabeth from King George VI, was
the
badge of the Marlborough Great George. This magnificent diamond and
precious stone garter badge of St. George had been made for King George
IV by an unknown jeweler, but has been altered by both Rundell, Bridge
and Rundell as well as Garrard’s.
This badge was worn by King George VI in 1937 and was later worn by
Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation in 1953. Her Majesty always wears
it on Garter Day and at the State Opening of Parliament. The creation of
the badge came about when King George IV noticed one worn by the Duke
og Malborough and ordered a copy of the piece made for himself.
The badge was recently on display at Buckingham Palace as part of the 2010 “
Queen’s Year”
exhibition which gave citizens of Britain a chance to view objects in
use by the Queen throughout her daily life in a year.
Adapted from stalkingthebelleepoque.blogspot.co.uk
