GARTER DAY AT WINDSOR CASTLE
Monday, 17th June 2024
A service for the Most Noble Order of the Garter will be held in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on Monday 17th June 2024.
The installation of the new Companions of the Order will take place during this service. Following the service, the King and Queen and members of the Royal Family will depart by carriage to return to the castle.
Earlier in the day, there will be a private Investiture in the Garter Throne Room, Windsor Castle, where the Duchess of Gloucester and three new Companions to the Order of the Garter will be invested:
• Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester, GCVO, DStJ, CD, to be a Royal Lady of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
• Air Chief Marshal the Lord Peach, GBE, KCB, DL, to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
• The Right Honourable the Lord Kakkar, KBE, to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
• The Lord Lloyd-Webber, to be a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain, established by King Edward III nearly 700 years ago. The Order includes the King, who is Sovereign of the Garter, the Queen, several members of the Royal Family, and up to 24 companions chosen in recognition of their work.
Companions of the Garter are chosen personally by the Sovereign to honour those who have held public office, who have contributed in a particular way to national life or who have served the Sovereign personally.
The appointment of the Duchess of Gloucester, Air Chief Marshal the Lord Peach, the Right Honourable the Lord Kakkar and the Lord Lloyd-Webber was announced on Tuesday, 23rd April 2024.
Biographies
The Duchess of Gloucester
The Duchess of Gloucester is a full-time working member of the Royal Family. Her Royal Highness takes great pride in the work which she undertakes for her many charities and organisations, as well as her duties in support of the monarch.
The Duchess of Gloucester travels across the UK and overseas to undertake hundreds of engagements every year. Many are related to the more than 60 organisations with which she is connected, across the arts, sport, health, welfare, education and the military. In 2008, Her Royal Highness met soldiers deployed on operations in Iraq, and in 2015 she visited Bermuda as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Bermuda Regiment.
The Duchess of Gloucester supports many charities and organisations, spanning diverse interests and causes, ranging from the Lawn Tennis Association to the Children’s Society, the Friends of St Paul’s Cathedral to Parkinson’s UK, Hope for Youth Northern Ireland to Scottish Opera.
Air Chief Marshal the Lord Peach
Air Chief Marshal the Lord Peach GBE KCB DL is the UK Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the Western Balkans. Sir Stuart served in the UK Armed Forces for 49 years and was the Military Head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation from 2018 to 2021. He completed four appointments as a four star including Chief of the Defence Staff from 2016 to 2018.
Sir Stuart commanded the UK’s first new military command in a generation: Joint Forces Command at Northwood in 2011. As an Air Marshal he was Chief of Joint Operations and Chief of Defence Intelligence and Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee.
As an airman, Lord Peach flew as a navigator in Canberra photographic reconnaissance aircraft and flew in Tornado for over twenty years as a squadron commander and electronic warfare and weapons instructor, participating in a number of operations across the globe.
In military service, Sir Stuart served in Hong Kong, Belize, the Middle East, the USA and Germany supporting NATO and UK operations.
Lord Peach is a Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, was a Trustee and Chair of the Imperial War Museum from 2011 to 2020 and is a Fellow of Downing College Cambridge, the Royal College of Defence Studies and the Royal Institute of Navigation. He holds four honorary Doctorates and is a Patron of many charities including the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln.
Lord Peach carried Curtana, the Sword of Mercy, at the Coronation of the King and Queen last year.
The Right Honourable the Lord Kakkar
Ajay Kumar Kakkar, Baron Kakkar of Loxbeare studied medicine at King’s College London before receiving his Ph.D. from Imperial College London, and has focused his medical career on the prevention and treatment of venous and arterial thromboembolic disease, and cancer associated thrombosis.
Lord Kakkar was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1992, and was latterly a Consultant Surgeon and Professor of Surgery (now Emeritus) at University College London.
Lord Kakkar is President of the Thrombosis Research Institute, Chairman of King’s Health Partners and Chairman of The King’s Fund. He is also Chairman of the Royal Commission for the 1851 Great Exhibition and of UK Biobank.
Between 2013 and 2018 Lord Kakkar served as Chair of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and between 2016 and 2022 of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
Lord Kakkar has been Chancellor of the University of Lincoln since 2023. In the 2022 New Year Honours, Lord Kakkar was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to healthcare and for public service.
The Lord Lloyd-Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lord-Webber of Sydmonton, is the UK’s most successful living composer, having written the scores of some of the world’s most famous musicals – including Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Evita and Sunset Boulevard. He is one of the select group of globally-renowned artists who has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has composed music for World Cup and Olympic Games opening ceremonies, for the memorial service in New York in 2001 to remember victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and he has been honoured to compose for many royal occasions – most recently he wrote the anthem, Make a Joyful Noise, for the coronation of the King and Queen at Westminster Abbey.
Lloyd Webber owns six of London’s best known West End theatres, including the iconic London Palladium and the historic Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He invests all the income from his theatres into their upkeep and modernisation, operating the company on a not-for-profit basis.
Lloyd Webber is passionate about the importance of musical education and diversity in the arts. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation provides performing arts scholarships for talented students with financial needs. The ALW schools music programme administered by the Music In Secondary Schools Trust has so far reached over 22,000 pupils across the UK.
Andrew Lloyd Webber was knighted in 1992 and created an honorary life peer in 1997.
