Henry Poole & Co. warmly congratulates HM the Queen on the occasion of her Platinum Jubilee.
In 1869 Queen Victoria granted Henry Poole & Co. her Royal Warrant as Court & Livery Tailors, and the company has proudly served every successive monarch since. Our uniforms and liveries have graced every State occasion, Coronation and Jubilee. This year’s magnificent pageantry is underpinned by the exceptional craftsmanship of Royal Warrant holders whose work has contributed to the dazzling display.
To celebrate Her Majesty’s Jubilee, we are displaying in our window a Garter Knight’s robe, made in 1906 for Charles Robert Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire. The robe is a mantle of ‘Celestial Blue’ velvet, as worn by the Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter on ceremonial occasions. At the Coronation in 1953, four Garter Knights wearing such robes carried the canopy shielding the Queen from view during her anointing.
The Order of the Garter was founded by King Edward III in 1348, and it is the United Kingdom’s senior order of knighthood, outranked in order of precedents only by the Victoria or George Cross. Appointments to the Order are made at the Sovereign’s sole discretion and membership is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales and no more than 24 living Knights Companion.
The Order’s insignia have changed very little since the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The emblem of the Order is a garter bearing the motto Honi soit qui mal y pense (‘shame on him who thinks evil of it’) in gold lettering. Members of the Order wear the garter on ceremonial occasions and every robe is embroidered with a badge bearing the same motto, ensigning the Cross of St George.
The robe demonstrates the continuing pride we take in our historic role of contributing the finest craftsmanship to royal ceremonies.
The Garter Knight’s robe will be on display until the 13th June.
