The Most Precious Order of Princely Heritage is an

order of merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

recognising invaluable service to Antigua and Barbuda, the Caricom region or the international community in any field of heritage and other cultural endeavours. It was established and constituted by the

Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda The Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda consists of the King of Antigua and Barbuda, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Parliament as a whole is charged with certain responsibilities and is given special powers and privileges in orde ...

under the National Honours Act 1998. which received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

from the Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda on 31 December 1998.

History

The Order of Princely Heritage was established and constituted under the National Honours Act 1998, which was amended in 2000, 2001 and 2015.

Composition

The Order is composed of the

Sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

, Chancellor and five classes of members, in descending order of precedence, as follows: # Grand Cross (GCH) # Grand Officer (GOH) # Commander (CH) # Officer (OH) # Member (MH) The Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda is ''ex officio'' Chancellor of the Order. Membership is open to citizens of Antigua and Barbuda and citizens of other countries.

Officers

The Order has four officers who compose the Chancery of the Order, as follows: * Chancellor * Secretary General * Antigua Herald * Barbuda Herald

Appointments

Appointments to the Order are made by the Chancellor on the advice of the

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda is the head of government of the country. The current prime minister is Gaston Browne, since 13 June 2014.Jacqueline Charles"Browne becomes new prime minister of Antigua, youngest ever" ''The Miami He ...

and the Honours Committee established under the 1998 Act. The Honours Committee consists of a person appointed by the Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda, two Members of the

Senate of Antigua and Barbuda The Senate is the Upper House of Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda. It consists of 17 members appointed by the Governor General. Ten members are appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister, four on the advice of the Leader of the Oppositio ...

and four Members of the

House of Representatives of Antigua and Barbuda The House of Representatives of Antigua and Barbuda is the lower chamber of the country's bicameral Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda, parliament. The current House of Representatives has a total of 19 members. 17 members are directly elected ...

. The Governor General appoints the Chairperson of the Honours Committee from amongst its members. Posthumous appointments to the Order may be made, but a deceased recipient does not appear on the current list of members of the Order. New appointments are announced each year on the occasion of the Independence Day of Antigua and Barbuda (1 November). The Chancellor conducts investitures at

Government House Government House is the name of many of the official residences of governors-general, governors and lieutenant-governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. The name is also used in some other countries. Gover ...

in St John's.

Precedence and privileges

Members of the order are assigned a place in the order of precedence of Antigua and Barbuda. Members are also entitled to place

post-nominals Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

after their names indicating the appropriate class of the order to which they have been appointed. Grand Crosses may petition for heraldic supporters to be granted to their

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

. They may also encircle their arms with a circlet bearing the motto of the Order. Grand Officers and Commanders may encircle their arms with the circlet. The pendent insignia of the Order may be shown below the arms of all members of the Order.

Notable recipients

Maurice Hope Maurice Hope (born 6 December 1951) is a British former boxer, who was world junior middleweight champion. Born in Antigua, he grew up in Hackney, London. He represented Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Boxin ...

, GCH * Claudette Peters, OH{{Cite web, url = https://bestantigua.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/claudette-peters-biography/, title = Biography of Claudette Peters, date = 27 July 2015, accessdate = 10 January 2016, website = Best Antigua, publisher = , last = , first =

References

Orders, decorations, and medals of Antigua and Barbuda Awards established in 1998 1998 establishments in Antigua and Barbuda