APPENDIX B 529 his seven sons, the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland (brothers of the Sovereign), the Prince ot Orange, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, the Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, and 1 8 British noblemen not of royal birth. A Statute enacted 10 Jan. 1805 restored the Prince of Wales to the number of 25 ordinary knights, while removing such lineal descendants of George II as already were members of, or might hereafter be admitted to, membership of the Order from that number. In virtue of this Statute the Prince of Orange, the Duke of Gloucester, the Elector of Hesse, and Prince William of Gloucester (who in the course of the same year succeeded to the Dukedom on his father's death), became supernumerary members, their places being taken by the Prince of Wales and three British noblemen, and the Order then consisted of the Sovereign, his six younger sons, the four other descendants of George II named above, and 25 ordinary knights including the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Brunswick. On the death of the Duke of Brunswick in 1806 and the succession of the Prince of Wales to the Sovereignty of the Order in 1820, their places were respec- tively taken by British noblemen. By a Statute of 28 June 1831 the Order was thereafter to consist of the Sovereign and 25 Knights Companions together with such lineal descendants of George I as had already been or might hereafter be elected into it: hence all such descendants in future were to be accounted as Supernumerary Knights. It is presumably in virtue of such descent that neither King Edward VII nor King George V, when Prince of Wales, was reckoned in the number of 25 ordinary Knights, and that the present Heir-apparent is similarly Supernumerary, although it is difficult to understand how, if the Prince be " a constituent part of the original Institution "(^) as expressly (^) In accordance with the words of the Statute of 1805 the Prince of Wales for the time being is (and has from that date been accounted) " a constituent part of the original Institution," the then Prince of Wales (subsequently George IV) having at that date been restored to the number of 25 ordinary Knights as stated in the text. Hence every Prince of Wales created since that date has ipso facto become and will in future, so long as this statement is assumed to hold good, become a Knight of the Garter from the date of his creation, unless (as was the case with King George V) he had been, or shall have been, already admitted to the Order. This is expressly and authoritatively laid down by Sir A. S. Scott-Gatty, Garter, in a letter to the Editor of this work dated 5 March 1912. Accordingly King Edward VII and the present Prince of Wales were accounted Knights of the Garter from the dates of their respective creations as Princes, and so appear in lists of such Knights printed in the annual books of reference between such dates and those of their actual investiture. But this modern doctrine does not seem to have been accepted before 1805, and in this respect bears some resemblance to those decisions of the House of Lords which have established new principles for determining the dates of hereditary Peerages. There is no record, previous to 1 805, of any Prince of Wales (except Prince Edward, one of the original 25) being included among the Knights before formal nomination and election. Accordingly the names of Edward son of Henry VI, and Edward son of Richard III, who were not so nominated and elected, are not found in the lists of Knights printed by Beltz, Nicolas, and Shaw. [Henry VI, Edward VI, and James the 68
