Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom at each Investiture. The Queen usually conducts the investitures, although the Prince of Wales, The Princess Royal or, more recently, the Duke of Cambridge also hold some investitures on behalf of the Queen. During the ceremony, the Queen enters the ballroom of Buckingham Palace attended by two Gurkha orderly officers, a tradition begun in 1876 by Queen Victoria. On duty on the dais are five members of the Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, which was created in 1485 by Henry VII; they are the oldest, but not most senior, military corps in the United Kingdom. Four
Yeomen of the Guard and two sailors joined the ranks of the Yeomen of the Guard. However, the role of the Captain of the Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard is a political appointment — the captain is always the government Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords. Today, the Yeomen of the Guard have a purely ceremonial role. Armed with a Wilkinson sword and an ornamental partizan, they accompany the sovereign and are in attendance at various occasions such as at the annual royal maundy service, investitures, garden parties at Buckingham Palace, and so on. One of their most