May it please your Lordship,
“The King’s Majesty, Sovereign of this most Noble Order of the Garter, having determined to Create the Prince his Eldest Son Knight, and to propose him in Election, to be a Companion of his Order; for the better Conveniency of his Installation, hath prorogued, by a Commission under the Seal of his Order, given the 25th of February, now remaining in my Custody, the Celebration of the Feast of St. George, from the 22, 23, and 24 of April next, whereon it shou’d have been Solemnized, unto the 21, 22, and 23 of May, immediately ensuing; and thereby given Command to all the Knights-Companions, and Officers of this Order, that they should attend his Royal Person, at his Palace of White-Hall, upon those Days appointed. In discharge of the Duty of my Place, and by special Order, I do signify unto your Lordship his Majesty’s Will, and that it is his Pleasure, for the more Honour of the Prince, and the Noble Feast of his Election and Installation, that your Lordship shou’d be attended with your Servants and Retinue, according to solemn Custom, and be prepared to Accompany his Higness, from Somerset House in the Strand, unto the Castle of Windsor, upon the 18th of that Month, and assist at the Ceremony and Feast of his Installation, upon the Day following: Praying your Lordship that you would be pleased to take knowlege hereby, both of the Time and Place designed, and of the Sovereign’s Order, I humbly rest,”
In all due Obedience,
and Observance,
Thomas Rowe.
St. Martin’s-lane,
Feb. 27. 1637.
When this Letter was issued out, the Sovereign intended to create the Prince Knight of the Bath, which Ceremonies were intended to begin at the old Palace-yard in Westminster, upon the 21st Day of May, Anno 13 Car. I. and to Solemnize the Feast of St. George, upon the 23d of the same Month at White-Hall, and to take the Scrutiny that Evening for his Election into this Order: The next Day was designed to invest him with the Garter and George, and the Day after to set forward the Cavalcade towards Windsor, wherein also the Knights of the Bath, (intended to be created with the Prince,) were to Ride with their Robes. But this Resolution being altered, stop’d the Progression of the Cavalcade, and in the room of a Knight of the Bath, he was created a Knight-Batchellor at Windsor.
Formerly it was the manner for the Sovereign’s Lieutenant to Ride to Windsor, attended with a gallant and glittering Train, and no small Number of his own Gentlemen and Yeomen richly attired, and in every Punctilio fifty set out, as was seen in the Cavalcade of the Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marshal of England, and Lieutenant for the Sovereign, for St. George’s Feast, Anno 5 Eliz. who had attending him twenty of his own Gentlemen and Yeomen, at the Time the Earls of Northumberland and Warwick were to be installed; but this was never put in Practice, but when the Sovereign appointed the Installation and the Feast of St. George to be celebrated together.
The Lieutenant, and his Assistants, or sometimes the Knights-Commissioners, (if the Feast of St. George be not then Solemnized,) being arrived in the Castle, immediately retire to their Lodgings, which for the most part have been prepared at the Dean’s House, whose Rooms are the fairest in the Castle, and the best fitted for Accommodation, next to those of the Sovereign’s in the upper Ward; and for the Knights elect, they were at all Times furnished with Lodgings in some of the Prebends Houses.
The Offering in the Chappel, on the Eve of the Feast.
§ 2. If it so chanced that the Installation was performed by Commissioners, and the Cavalcade proceeded from London, in the Morning of the Day preceeding the Installation, and arrived at the Castle of Windsor early that Afternoon; then the Knights-Commissioners have been accustomed only to put on their Mantles, and enter St. George’s Chappel to offer; but without the Attendance of Heralds, or any solemn Procession into the Choir, save one of the Prebends; where having placed themselves in their Stalls with usual Reverences, and heard an Anthem, they passed up to the Altar with the Verger and Garter before them, and there made their Offering, both of Gold and Silver, according to the usual Custom. As soon as Vespers were finished, after the same manner they descended from their Stalls, and departed to their Lodgings; and in this case the Knights-Commissioners did not lay by their Mantles till Supper was ended.
In this nature was the Ceremony of Offering (on the Eve of the Installation) performed by the Lord Admiral and Earl of Ormond, Commissioners for the Installation of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Cumberland, Anno 34 Eliz. But at the Installation of the Earl of Rutland, and others, Anno 26 Eliz. the Lord Hunsdon (one of the Commissioners for that Solemnity,) refused to make his Offering alone, though he arrived timely enough, on the Eve of the Feast at Windsor Castle, because he wanted the Company of Viscount Mountague, who was a joynt Commissioner with him, that arrived not till the Morning after.