The Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded by Edward III in 1348, is England's and Britain's highest order of chivalry. Because the order's earliest records were destroyed by fire, historians cannot be certain of its original purpose or the meaning of its badge and motto; one theory holds Edward meant to revive the Round Table of Arthurian legend. Tradition explains the order's founding through an incident in which a lady's blue garter fell to the floor while dancing with the king, who retrieved it and bound it to his own leg, rebuking onlookers with the words that remain the order's motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense, shame to him who thinks evil of it; the identity of the lady is itself uncertain, with Joan of Kent, Katharine Grandison, Countess of Salisbury, and, by one Tudor historian's account, Edward's own queen Philippa of Hainault all proposed. Edward inaugurated the order with a great feast and tournament; its original membership was the king and the Prince of Wales, each with twelve companion knights, mirroring a tournament's two sides. Its home is St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, its feast day 23 April, St George's Day, and it remains in active use by the British monarchy today.