The Kings of Scots, later the Kings of Great Britain and of the United Kingdom, have served as Sovereigns of the Order. When James VII revived the Order, the statutes stated that the Order would continue the ancient number of Knights, which was described in the preceding warrant as "the Sovereign and twelve Knights-Brethren in allusion to the Blessed Saviour and his Twelve Apostles". In 1827, George IV augmented the Order to sixteen members. Women (other than Queens regnant) were originally excluded from the Order; George VI created his wife Queen Elizabeth a Lady of the Thistle in 1937 by a special statute, and in 1987 Elizabeth II allowed the regular admission of women to both the Order of the Thistle and the Order of the Garter.