Order of the Bath

Today in Westminster Cathedral HM The Queen joined by HRH The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales invested senior military officers into the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.

The Order was created in the early 1700's to honour the service of senior military officers. The Order has three grades of membership which are in accenting order of priority are Companion of the Order, Knight Commander/ Dame of the Order and finally Knight Grand Cross / Dame Grand Cross with the number of people admitted to each grade limited to 120, 355 and 1925 respectively.

As the Monarch the Queen is the head of the Order with the Prince of Wales being the Grand Master. There are currently a number of other offices within the Order such as the King of Arms which are all held by senior military officers excluding the Dean who is in the Church of England.

It is important to note that the Order of the Bath is currently fourth in line of importance after the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle and the Order of St Patrick which is no longer granted since the creation of the Irish Free State.

Those granted with the status of a Knight, Dame or higher are entitled to be addressed as Sir and Dame as long as they are subjects of the United Kingdom and most other the Queens other Realms. Where an award is granted to a non-resident of these countries they are entitled to the relevant post nominals but not to the title of Knight or Dame.

As with all other Knighthoods their wives are entitled to be addressed as Lady though there is no such system currently in place for a husband of a Dame. That may change in the future.

I congratulate the new members of the Order who were duly invested this morning.