6. Officers of the Order.
7. The Sovereign’s Commissioners.
Yet Anno 16 Eliz. at the Installation of the Earls of Pembrook and Derby, we find the Officers did precede the elect Knights, but it was through inadvertency; at the Installation of the Earl of Northampton, some Question and Debate arose, concerning the precedency of these three Officers, in this proceeding, where it was at length concluded, that from the Castle to the Chappel, they shou’d proceed before the Commissioners; but in returning from the Chappel to the Castle, they shou’d follow.
We presume the Question, (whatsoever it was) chanced not to be propounded, till the proceeding was ready to pass on, and then started on a sudden, because the Heralds (as the Annals note,) did not quickly discypher the matter, that it proceeded more from surprize, than want of Ability to resolve.
This determination which took Place, was barely grounded upon Conjecture, and if seriously considered, will appear disconsonant to Precedents and Practice, both before and since; where all returns are marshalled answerable to their setting forth, unless the Condition of any Person in the mean time suffer a Mutation.
It’s observable, that when Installation pass by Commissioners only, these three inferior Officers wear their Robes, but bear not the Ensigns of their Office in the Proceeding. And this seems to be deduced from particular Injunctions, laid down in the Constitutions belonging to the Officers of the Order, which appoint Garter and Black-Rod to bear the Ensigns of their Offices at the Feast of St. George, when the Sovereign or his Deputy shall be present; whence it may be inferred, that if either chance to be absent, they are under no obligation to bear them: For at the Installations of Frederick, King of Denmark, and John Casimire, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Anno 25 Eliz. no Ensigns were born by the Officers; and so was it practised the Year after, at the Installations of the Earl of Rutland and Lord Cobham, as the Red-Book of Order plainly sets forth. But if the Sovereign himself be present, or that he constitute a Lieutenant in his stead, the Register then carries the Red-Book, and the Garter and the Black-Rod bear each of them their Rods. It is remarkable, that in every proceeding to Installation, by Lieutenant, or Commissioners, the Garter carries the Sovereign’s Commission in his Hand before them to the Chapter-House. At the Installation of the Earls of Derby and Moreton, the Officers of the Order proceeded before the Knights to the Chapter-House, not only without the Ensigns of their Office, but their Heads covered; and the reporter of this Installation gives this for a reason; because there was then neither the Sovereign, nor his Lieutenant, representing the King’s Person, present.
The Sovereign sometimes being willing to confer additional Honours to some elect Knights, hath appointed their Installation at such time as he personally solemnized the Feast of St. George, as he did at the Installation and Election of Philip King of Castile, Anno 22 Hen. VII. which for its memorableness, and mixt proceeding on Horse-back, we shall insert in this Place: He passed from the Sovereign’s Lodging in the Castle, to the South-Door of St. George’s-Chappel, and was thus ordered.
1. Knights according to their Degrees.
2. Lords after their Degrees.
3. Knights-Companions in their whole Habit, bearing Company with some of the Knights of the Order of Joyson d’Or.