Standard Bearer of England

The Standard Bearer of England was once an important office within the English army, especially during the times when Kings were still present on the battlefield. As standard-bearer Henry de Essex was greatly chastised when he threw down the English Standard and claimed his King (Stephen) was dead in 1153.

During the Wars of the Roses, each side had their own Standard Bearer, for example; Sir David Ap Mathew, standard bearer of Edward, Duke of York (later King Edward IV) at the Battle of Towton, and then William Brandon, standard bearer of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (later King Henry VII) at the Battle of Bosworth. During the English Civil War, Charles II's standard bearer was not called Standard Bearer of England as he was only proclaimed king in 1660 long after the civil war had ended.

It increasingly became an honorific rank, and in modern times it has been linked with the King's Champion.