Order of St Patrick

Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick
Insignia of a Knight of the Order of St. Patrick
Awarded by the monarch of the United Kingdom
Type	Order of chivalry
Established	1783
Motto	Quis separabit?
Criteria	At the monarch's pleasure
Status	Last appointment in 1936 Dormant order since 1974
Sovereign	Charles III
Grades	Knight (KP)
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of the Thistle
Next (lower)	Order of the Bath
Riband of the Order of St. Patrick

The Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a dormant British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by King George III at the request of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, The 3rd Earl Temple (later created Marquess of Buckingham). The regular creation of knights of the Order lasted until 1922, when most of Ireland gained independence as the Irish Free State, a dominion within what was then known as the British Commonwealth of Nations. While the Order technically still exists, no knight of St Patrick has been created since 1936, and the last surviving knight, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, died in 1974. Charles III, however, remains the Sovereign of the Order, and one officer, the Ulster King of Arms (now represented in the office of Norroy and Ulster King of Arms), also survives. St Patrick is patron of the order; its motto is Quis separabit?, Latin for "Who will separate [us]?": an allusion to the Vulgate translation of Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"^[1]

Most British orders of chivalry cover the entire United Kingdom, but the three most exalted ones each pertain to one constituent country only. The Order of St Patrick, which pertains to Ireland, is the most junior of these three in precedence and age. Its equivalent in England, the Most Noble Order of the Garter, is the oldest order of chivalry in the British Isles, dating from the mid-fourteenth century. The Scottish equivalent is the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, dating in its present form from 1687.