When the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George was established by the British in Corfu and Malta in 1818, each location required a suitably impressive venue in which investitures within the order could be held.

In Corfu, the Palace of St Michael and St George was constructed to the designs of Colonel, later Major-General, Sir George Whitmore of the Royal Engineers; while in Malta, the Supreme Council Chamber of the Knights of St John at the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta was rechristened the Hall of St Michael and St George. The décor of the latter was also designed by Whitmore, and the new name for this hall remained in use until Malta gained independence in 1964.

The current comprehensive refurbishment of the palace now nearing completion has acknowledged the palace’s link with the Order of St Michael and St George through the inclusion, in December last year, of a room dedicated to this order. This article takes a brief look at the functions for which the hall was primarily created: investitures within the order.

Investitures originated in religious institutions where rituals were devised during which the recipient was ceremoniously dressed in a robe (Latin: vestis), such as a religious vestment.

In the chivalric tradition, investitures were initially associated with the adoption of heraldric attire, later evolving into the granting of regalia such as badges, breast stars and collars (chains of office).

An investiture is not to be confused with an installation. The former can be included within the latter, which is a much more elaborate procedure at which all the members of an order ‒ as can be conveniently assembled in a chapter house or chapel  ‒  formally welcome a new member of their order.

In some cases, where the chapter meeting takes place in a chapel dedicated to that order, the new member is granted a stall and his/her armorial banner is hung in the chapel, as still occurs today in the case of the senior British orders, such as the Garter (St George’s Chapel, Windsor), Bath (Westminster Abbey) and even St Michael and St George (St Paul’s Cathedral).

During the period under consideration, there were three levels of dignity within the Order of St Michael and St George, starting with Companion (CMG), Knight Commander (KCMG), and the highest being Knight Grand Cross (GCMG).

In 1965, the order was extended to include women at all grades; with the associated titles of Dames Commander (DCMG) and Dames Grand Cross (GCMG).

During an investiture, Knights Commander were presented with a neck badge and a breast star; Knights Grand Cross received a larger neck badge as well as a more impressive breast star together with a blue satin mantle (cloak). A gold collar (chain) on which the badge could be suspended was worn by Knights Grand Cross on ‘Collar Days’. These included the sovereign’s birthday, certain saints’ days and similar significant occasions.

Mantle and chapeau of a Grand Cross. Lithograph by Brocktorff & Sons, Malta, 1859.

Major Sir Wilford Brett, KCMG. Leandro Preziosi, 1864. Photo courtesy of Dr Charles Paul Azzopardi/Mipa – Mipa.com.mt

Newly appointed Companions were never invested with regalia that consisted of just a badge; in Malta they generally received their warrant and badge informally from the governor.

The procedures within investitures of the Order of St Michael and St George followed a basic pattern that is described below; however, the details varied according to who presided and which of the officers of the order were present. The following description assumes the governor was the principal official; ceremonies were also dependent on the governor’s own tastes.

Baron Sir Giuseppe Maria de Piro, GCMG, by Charles Allingham. Courtesy of Casa Rocca Piccola collection.

It is not surprising to learn that the most spectacular investitures were held during the tenure of Governor John Le Marchant, who was undoubtedly Malta’s most grandiloquent governor. It is also fair to point out that it is thanks to Le Marchant’s sense of occasion that we can today enjoy the magnificent marble floors of the palace corridors.

Although it was the governor who presided over most investitures, it was also true that on a small number of occasions, Maltese-born citizens of high office were authorised by the sovereign, by virtue of a royal warrant, to officiate. In all cases, since the person presiding represented the sovereign, the royal standard was flown from the palace flagstaff during the ceremony.

The participants in the investiture gathered in the Tapestry Room at the palace and proceeded in state through the Great Corridor to the Hall of St Michael and St George. The procession included the officers of the order, wearing their scarlet mantles and badges of office; the knights of the order followed according to seniority (the mantles of Knights Grand Cross being saxon blue with scarlet lining). The governor was preceded by the sword of state carried by a senior knight, and the royal warrant authorising the investiture was borne on a crimson cushion by the secretary of the order.

After the governor took his seat on the throne, the royal warrant was read out by the officer of arms. The latter then retired and returned to conduct the knight-elect into the presence. The knight-elect was accompanied by two supporting knights and an officer of the order carrying the riband, badge and star on a crimson velvet cushion.

In the case of Knights Commander who had not been previously knighted (knighthood may have already been granted by virtue of the recipient’s previous dignity within another order), they would kneel before the throne and be dubbed in the name of the sovereign.

The knight-elect then took the oath (pledging the recipient to honour God and be steadfast in the faith of Christ, and to serve and protect the rights of the sovereign protector of the island of Malta and its dependencies). The governor then, receiving the insignia from the secretary, would invest the recipient with the riband, badge and breast star of the order.

Insignia of a Knight Commander. Lithograph by Brocktorff & Sons, Malta, 1859.

After this, the officer of arms administered the admonition (acknowledging receipt of the ensigns of the newly invested knight as evidence of the holder’s merit, virtue and loyalty, as well as his reception into the order and the pledge to use his newfound status to the good of God and his country) and handed the recipient a copy of the statutes of the order, together with the monarch’s warrant empowering him to wear the insignia and to the privileges of his new rank. At this point, the investiture was completed.

Over the years, circumstances required some variations to these ceremonies. One such instance took place in 1828 at the investiture of the newly arrived Lieutenant Governor, Major-General the Hon. Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, with the dignity of Knight Grand Cross. In this case, it was Judge Sir Raffaele Crispino Xerri, GCMG, the most senior Knight Grand Cross of the order, who acted in the name and on behalf of King George IV, who invested the lieutenant governor with the insignia of the order in accordance with His Majesty’s royal warrant.

Sir Raffaele and his compatriots must have felt very proud when, richly habited in the mantle of a Knight Grand Cross and representing his sovereign, he sat on the throne as royal salutes rang out from the batteries around Valletta.

This was not the only occasion at which a Maltese-born knight presided over an investiture. In 1843, Judge Sir Agostino Randon, GCMG, invested Governor Sir Patrick Grant with the dignity of a Knight Grand Cross. Previously, Judge Sir Giuseppe Calcedonio Debono, GCMG, had invested Claudio Vincenzo Bonnici with the dignity of Knight Commander in 1835, and Count Sir Paolo Parisio as Knight Grand Cross in 1836.

Judge Sir Giuseppe Calcedonio Debono, GCMG. Unknown artist. Private collection, Malta.

An investiture could be dispensed with if the recipient was living abroad, travelling or too ill to attend a ceremony. A dispensation required royal approval, after which a warrant of dispensation was issued.

A few governors chose to dispense with their investitures. Two of these were Sir Lintorn Simmons and Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant. It is not entirely clear why they chose this option given that a precedent had been set by Ponsonby in 1828.

Might there have been an element of stigma associated with being invested by anyone other than the sovereign? This clearly didn’t bother Ponsonby, who by all contemporary accounts, was a surprisingly down-to-earth and unaffected military officer.

In 1864, Corfu was ceded to Greece; however, hopes of the Order of St Michael and St George becoming exclusively Maltese were soon dispelled when the order was extended to cover the whole of the British empire. To this day, the order is granted not just to British citizens but also to citizens of Commonwealth countries who perform extraordinary non-military service to the UK and the Commonwealth.

As a result of the order’s wider remit, appointments at the level of Knight Commander and Grand Cross for Maltese reduced dramatically. From 1864 until the end of the century, only 13 investitures were held compared to 39 during the preceding 36 years.

Records show there were only three appointments at the higher levels of the order in the 20th century: Sir Giuseppe Carbone, GCMG, in 1901; Sir Richard Micallef, KCMG, in 1906, and Lord Strickland, GCMG, in 1913.

Not surprisingly, the most active period in terms of investitures held in the Hall of St Michael and St George was the late 1850s and early 1860s, which coincided with the tenure of Governor Le Marchant, who ushered in a golden age of pomp and pageantry best represented by the embellishment of the palace.

Readers wishing to know more about investitures during this period may refer to this author’s article ‘Mystery of the two rods of office’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, September 10, 2023).

Unless otherwise indicated, the illustrations come from the author’s collection.