Royal Warrant - Statute of the Order of the Garter for Admitting the Emperor of Russia as a Stranger Knight [1813-07-27]

Royal Warrant - Statute of the Order of the Garter for Admitting the Emperor of Russia as a Stranger Knight [1813-07-27]

Honors

Statute of the Order of the Garter issued by the Prince Regent for the Election of the Emperor of Russia as a Knight Companion.

King George III via George, Prince of Wales (Regent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland)

The Statutes of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (London: T. H. Coe, 1814), 64-66.

1813-07-27

Jason Loch

At a Chapter, held at Carlton House, on the 27th Day of July, 1813, the following Statute, read by the Chancellor, was added:

In the Name and on the Behalf of the Sovereign.

GEORGE P. R.

(L. S.)

WHEREAS, by the Statutes of the most noble Order of the Garter, it is provided that the said Order shall consist of The Sovereign and Twenty-five Knights Companions, together with such lineal Descendants of King George the Second as shall have been elected, and may hereafter be elected, into the same, always excepting the Prince of Wales who is a constituent Part of the original Institution; We, the Sovereign of the said most noble Order, Decree for taking, nevertheless, into our Royal Consideration, the Magnanimity, and the many other transcendent and heroic Qualities which distinguish Our Good Brother, ALEXANDER, Emperor and Autocrator of all the Russians; the high Friendship and close Alliance happily subsisting between Us; and the glorious Efforts of His Imperial Majesty for the Deliverance and Welfare of the Continent of Europe; Do, hereby, in virtue of the Power and Authority inherent in Us, as Sovereign, dispense with the said Statutes, in as far as may be required for the special Purpose hereinafter mentioned; and Do decree, ordain, and enjoin, that the Knights Companions, in Chapter assembled, may forthwith proceed to the Election of the said Emperor into Our said most noble Order; any Statute, Decree, Rule, or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding.

Given at Our Court at Carlton House, under the Signet of Our said Order, the 27th Day of July, 1813, in the Fifty-third Year of Our Reign.

By the special Command of His Royal Highness The Prince Regent, in the Name, and on the Behalf of The Sovereign.

J. SARUM, C. G.

John Fisher (Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of the Order of the Garter)

Signet of the Order of the Garter

This text is taken from a secondary source and so it may not reflect the formatting of the original.

Fisher was the penultimate Bishop of Salisbury to serve as Chancellor of the Garter. In 1837, the office was given to the Bishop of Oxford after Windsor was transferred to his diocese (though St. George's Chapel was exempt from diocesan jurisdiction as a royal peculiar).

Fisher's use of the post-nominal letters GC mirrors the practice of the Lord Chancellor and Lord Privy Seal. The former ended their signature with a C while the latter ended it with CPS.