The Chancellor of the Order of the Garter is an officer of the Order of the Garter.
When the Order of the Garter was founded in 1348 at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle by Edward III of England, three officers were initially appointed to serve them: the Prelate, the Register and the Usher. In 1477 Edward IV decreed that the further position of Chancellor should be created to be responsible for the seal and its use. Accommodation was to be provided in what came to be called the Chancellor's Tower. The position of Chancellor was to be second in seniority to the Prelate and was granted to Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, and his successors in that position. At that time Windsor Chapel lay geographically in the See of Salisbury, although as a royal chapel it did not come under the direct jurisdiction of the Bishop. [1]
The unbroken succession of Bishops of Salisbury came to an end in 1551 when Sir William Cecil was made Chancellor by Edward VI, after which a succession of lay Chancellors were appointed. [1]
Following a number of petitions by successive Bishops of Salisbury, their right to hold the position was conceded in 1669 and on the death of Henry de Vic the honour reverted to the Bishops of Salisbury. [1]
In 1837 boundary changes made Windsor Castle fall in the diocese of Oxford and the Chancellorship was transferred to the Bishop of Oxford. A century later, the Bishop of Salisbury again challenged the loss of the office on the grounds that the Chancellorship had been attached to his office regardless of the diocese in which the chapel of the order lay and that, in any event, St George's Chapel, as a Royal Peculiar, was not under diocesan jurisdiction. The office of Chancellor was removed from the Bishop of Oxford (the outgoing bishop, Thomas Banks Strong, had been outspoken in the abdication crisis of Edward VIII), and withheld from his successors.
The office has since been held by one of the Knights and Ladies Companion. In 2024, The Baroness Manningham-Buller became the first female chancellor. [2]
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. The most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, it is outranked in precedence only by the decorations of the Victoria Cross and the George Cross. The Order of the Garter is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George, England's patron saint.
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Richard Beauchamp was a medieval Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of Salisbury.
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John Fisher was a Church of England bishop, serving as Bishop of Exeter, then Bishop of Salisbury.
St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar, and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter. St George's Chapel was founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century. It is located in the Lower Ward of the castle.
Thomas Manningham (1651?-1722) was an English churchman, bishop of Chichester from 1709.
| Bishops of Salisbury (1477–1550) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Lay chancellors (1551–1671) | ||
| Bishops of Salisbury (1671–1837) | ||
| Bishops of Oxford (1837–1937) | ||
| Knights and Ladies Companion (since 1937) | ||