Captain General Royal Marines | |
---|---|
Royal Marines | |
Abbreviation | Capt-Gen |
Appointer | The Monarch |
Term length | At his own pleasure |
Formation | 1 January 1901 |
First holder | King George V (As Colonel-in-Chief) King George VI (As Captain General) |
Captain General Royal Marines is the ceremonial head of the Royal Marines. The current Captain General is King Charles III. [a] [1] The uniform and insignia currently worn by the Captain General are those of a Field Marshal.
This position is distinct from that of the Commandant General Royal Marines, the professional head of the corps, currently occupied by General Gwyn Jenkins.
Appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, the ceremonial head of the Royal Marines was the Colonel in Chief until the title changed to Captain General in 1948. [2] The first Captain General Royal Marines was King George VI. Following his death he was succeeded by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, consort to Queen Elizabeth II; Prince Philip is the longest serving Captain General to date. [3]
Following Prince Philip's retirement from royal duties in 2017, Prince Harry was appointed as Captain General. [4] Unlike his predecessors and successors, who had worn Field Marshal uniforms, [5] as Captain General, Prince Harry was instead entitled to wear the rank insignia of a Major General. [6] Despite this, Prince Harry, at least on some occasions, wore the rank insignia of a Colonel, [7] [8] which is traditionally worn by some colonels-in-chief in the British Army. [9]
King Charles III was announced as Captain General on 28 October 2022, on the 358th anniversary of the corps' founding by King Charles II in 1664. [10] Charles III separately holds the position of Head of the Armed Forces, which like some of his predecessors also makes him the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Marines. [11]
The post has been held by the following:
No. | Portrait | Name (Born–died) | Title | Term of office | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Took office | Left office | Time in office | |||||
1 [b] | King George V (1865–1936) | Colonel-in-Chief | 1 January 1901 | 20 January 1936 | 35 years, 19 days | [12] | |
2 [c] | King Edward VIII (1894–1972) | 23 March 1936 | 11 December 1936 | 263 days | [13] | ||
3 [d] | King George VI (1895–1952) | 11 December 1936 | 8 October 1948 | 15 years, 57 days | [14] | ||
Captain General | 8 October 1948 | 6 February 1952 | [15] | ||||
4 | Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021) | 1 June 1953 | 19 December 2017 | 64 years, 201 days | [16] [17] | ||
5 | Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (born 1984) | 19 December 2017 | 19 February 2021 [Note 1] | 3 years, 62 days | [23] [24] | ||
6 [e] | King Charles III (born 1948) | 28 October 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 38 days |
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His Majesty trained and served alongside the Royal Marines during his Naval career.