The Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick

Good evening, this is Michael Anthony, and you’re listening to British History 101.
With this episode of the show, we’ll bring to a close our three part series on the three highest chivalric orders of the British Isles. We’ve spoken of England’s Order of the Garter, Scotland’s Order of the Thistle, and tonight we’ll head west to the Emerald Isle and discuss the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, the order of knights associated with Ireland. While I’m sure some of you have already recalled that Ireland itself, as the Irish Free State, separated itself from the United Kingdom in 1922, I assure you tonight’s topic is still quite relevant. Let’s on to it.
His Majesty George III issued a Royal Warrant on 5 February 1783 the Lord Lieutenant, Earl Temple, authorizing the issue of letters patent instituting the Order. The Statutes of the Order mandated a limit of 15 members in addition to the sovereign, each of whom had to be male, already be knights to begin with, and have three generations of noblesse on both their father and mother’s side, meaning that each of those generations had to have held coats of arms. This last requirement would have classified each man as a gentleman, and no provision was (or ever has been) made for women to join the Order. The Order was instituted to reward those who supported the government of the day in Ireland. Ireland had been given a substantial amount of autonomy in 1782, and the Order was a way of currying support in the Irish Parliament on the part of the monarchy. The reigning British monarch was the Sovereign of the Order, and the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland served as the Order’s Grand Master. According to the original statutes of the Order, vacancies in the Order would be filled by the Sovereign with the nomination of new members by existing knights. Each knight was to nominate nine candidates – three of the rank of earl or higher, three that were barons or higher, and three with the rank knight or higher. The Order of St. Patrick differed from the Garter and Thistle in that only peers and princes were ever appointed to be knights of the Order.
St. Patrick is the patron saint of the Order, and the Order’s motto is “Quis separabit?” or “Who will separate us?” The Chapel of the Order was originally St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Knights are entitled to use the letters “KP” after their names in the list of titles following, and those letters come before all others except for the abbreviations for Baronet, Victoria Cross, George Cross, Order of the Garter, and Order of the Thistle. Looking at this and the other two Orders we’ve already discussed, a clear precedence is established – the peerage rank comes first, followed by the two Cross awards, and then the appropriate Orders follow. The Order of the Garter is given first place, followed by the Thistle, and the Order of St. Patrick is third in line.
In describing the regalia and accoutrements of the Order, we start with the badge of the Order. The badge is made of gold with a shamrock bearing three crowns, on top of a cross of St. Patrick (that being a red saltire on a white background) and surrounded by a blue circle with the Order’s motto and 1783 in Roman numerals. From the badge, we move to the star of the Order. The star has eight points, the four cardinal points being longer than those in between. In the middle of the star is the same design as the badge. The broad riband of the Order is a sky blue sash worn from the right shoulder to the left hip. For more formal occasions, three more pieces are added. The mantle of the Order is a sky blue hooded robe lined with white silk, to which is attached the star of the Order on the left breast. A hat, originally white silk with blue lining but later black velvet, is also worn, bearing three falls of feathers,  one each of red, white, and blue. Lastly, the collar of the Order is worn, consisting of Tudor roses and harps joined with knots. In the middle of the collar is the badge of the Order, suspended from a harp, which is in turn suspended from a crown.
There are several key dates to keep in mind when discussing the Order of St. Patrick. One is 1833, when William IV officially changed the maximum number of knights from 15 to 22. The next year is 1871, when the Church of Ireland was dissolved. Before this year, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin had served as the Order’s official chapel; however, the Order had no official home until 1881, when the Order was moved to the Great Hall of Dublin Castle. Because of this association with the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, the Great Hall had its name changed to St. Patrick’s Hall, where the President of Ireland is no w inaugurated. 1907 saw scandal touch the Order, as in that year the Irish Crown Jewels, the insignia of the Order, were stolen from Dublin Castle. To this day, their whereabouts are unknown. The next date to consider is 1922, and this is the most important year to remember in the history of the Order, for this is when the Irish Free State separated from the United Kingdom.
The office of lord lieutenant, the monarch’s representative in Ireland, was abolished in 192; this eliminated one part of the Order, along with several other officer positions. 1922 effectively ended appointments to the Order, with only 3 happening since then. All three were members of the royal family; in 1927, the Prince of Wales (who would later become Edward VIII) was appointed, followed in 1934 by his brother Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and in 1936 by Albert, Duke of York. Albert’s appointment was the very last made to the Order of St. Patrick, and the last Knight of the Order, the Duke of Gloucester, died in 1974. Thus, Elizabeth II and the Ulster King of Arms are currently the only members of the Most Illustrious Order of St. Patrick. This is important to note, as it shows that the Order is, in fact, still in existence. No knights have been appointed since 1936, but it has not officially been disbanded. It is interesting to note, however, that the website of the monarchy lists the Order as discontinued since 1922.
The revival of the Order of St. Patrick has been discussed several times since its 1922 discontinuation; nothing has really ever come of it. As a matter of fact, Article 40.2 of the Constitution of Ireland provides that “Titles of nobility shall not be conferred by the State; No title of nobility or of honour shall be accepted by any citizen except with the prior approval of the Government.” In other words, don’t count on seeing any appointments any time soon.
That concludes our look at the orders of chivalry associated with Ireland, Scotland, and England. While there are many more orders which will certainly be covered in future episodes, I felt these were particularly interesting and have enjoyed the series they became.
A transcript of this and previous episodes of this podcast can be found at BritishHistory101.com. Send questions, comments, rants, and raves to BritishHistory101@gmail.com. Our music tonight is “Lumps of Pudding Variations” performed by O Fickle Fortune and available on Magnatune.com. Magnatune is an independent online record label that equally shares all revenue from album sales with their hand-selected artists while allowing them to retain full rights to their works. Visit magnatune.com for great music at low prices and support the many wonderful artists hosted there. As always, thanks for learning with me tonight, and stay tuned for Monday’s episode of British History 101.