Order of the Garter are automatically entitled to them. Order of the Garter The Order of the Garter (formally the Most Noble Order of the Garter) is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III in 1348 and regarded as the most prestigious British order of chivalry (though in precedence inferior to the military Victoria Cross and George Cross) in England and the United Kingdom. It is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George, England's patron saint. Appointments are made at the Sovereign's sole discretion. Membership of the Order is limited to the Sovereign, the Prince of Wales, and no more than
Chivalry often presented as a civilizing and stabilizing influence in the turbulent middle ages. On the contrary, Kaueper argues “that in the problem of public order the knights themselves played an ambivalent, problematic role and that the guides to their conduct that chivalry provided were in themselves complex and problematic.” Many of the codes and ideals of chivalry were of course contradictory, however, when knights did live up to them, they did not lead to a more “ordered and peaceful society”. The tripartite conception of medieval European society (those who pray, those who fight, and those who work) along with other