The Most Illustrious

Order of Saint Patrick The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple (later cre ...

is a British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

at the instigation of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple (1753–1813; created The 1st

Marquess of Buckingham Marquess of Buckingham may refer to: * George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592–1628) Marquess of Buckingham from 1618 until elevated to Duke of Buckingham in 1623 * George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham (1753–1813), ...

in 1784). The regular creation of knights of Saint Patrick lasted until 1921, when most of Ireland became independent as the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between ...

. While the Order technically still exists, no knight of St Patrick has been created since 1936, and the last surviving knight,

Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, (Henry William Frederick Albert; 31 March 1900 – 10 June 1974) was the third son and fourth child of King George V and Queen Mary. He served as Governor-General of Australia from 1945 to 1947, the only memb ...

, died in 1974. The King, however, remains the Sovereign of the Order. The position of King of Arms of the order was held by Ulster King of Arms; this office still exists, since 1943 it has been combined with Norroy King of Arms. St Patrick is

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of the order; its motto is '' Quis separabit?'',

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "Who will separate us?": an allusion to the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

translation of

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"According to Galloway (pp 171–2), the motto was borrowed from the

Order of the Friendly Brothers of St Patrick Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

, but was also appropriate politically in expressing a desire for unity The first appointments were made on 11 March 1783, and consisted of 15 Knight Founders, and in total there have been 145 appointments. The original Royal Warrant (dated 5 February 1783) specified that there were to be no more than fifteen knights of the Order at any one time, something that changed in 1821 when

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

appointed an extra six knights (although the royal warrant was not altered to reflect this change until 1830).

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

appointed an additional four knights at his coronation, and on 24 January 1833 increased the maximum number of knights to 22.

References

;General * ;Specific

References

Further reading