UK Royal Household ceremonial position
Pages of Honour on the balcony at
Buckingham Palace after the
2023 coronation ceremony
A Page of Honour is a
ceremonial position in the
Royal Household of the
Sovereign of the
United Kingdom . It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The only physical activity involved is usually carrying the long
train of the Sovereign's robes. This position is distinct from that of a
page in the Royal Household, which is the senior rank of uniformed staff.
Pages of Honour participate in major ceremonies involving the British monarch, including
coronations and the
State Opening of Parliament . It is usually a distinction granted to teenage sons of members of the
nobility and
gentry , and especially of senior members of the Royal Household.
Livery
Pages of Honour in England wear a scarlet
frock coat with gold trimmings, a white satin waistcoat, white
breeches and
hose , white gloves, black buckled shoes and a lace cravat and ruffles. A sword is also worn with the outfit and a feathered three-cornered hat is provided.
[1] In Scotland the outfit is identical, but in green rather than scarlet (as seen periodically at the
Thistle Service in
Edinburgh ).
[2] In Ireland, when Pages of Honour were attendant upon the King, Pages of Honour wore exactly the same uniform as at the English Court, except that the colour was
St. Patrick's blue with silver lace.
[1]
At coronations, the peers who carry regalia in the
procession (and others with particular roles in the service) were expected to have their own
pages in attendance. These pages are directed to wear "the same pattern of clothes as the Pages of Honour wear, but of the Livery colour of the Lords they attend... [except that] ...the Royal liveries being scarlet and gold, the use of this combination of colours is restricted to the Pages of Honour, and in the case of a Peer whose colours are scarlet and gold, for scarlet some variant, such as
murrey or
claret , should be used."
[3]
Pages of Honour by monarch
Charles II
James II
William III
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
1690–1693: Matthew Harvey
1693–1697: George Feilding
1697–1702:
Allan Wentworth
John Brockhuisen appears in the post-mortem accounts of the
Board of Green Cloth as a page of honour to William III, but this may be an error, as he appears elsewhere as a pensioner after serving as Queen Mary's page of honour.
Anne
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
1702–1708: John Gough
1708–1712: Charles Hedges
1712–1714:
Thomas Murray
Fourth Page of Honour
George I
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
George II
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
George III
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
Fifth Page of Honour
1760–1761: John Wrottesley
1773–1781: George Bristow
1781–1782:
John Murray
George IV
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
1820–1824: Charles Bagot
1824–1830: Arthur William FitzRoy Somerset
Fourth Page of Honour
William IV
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
Victoria
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
Edward VII
Pages of Honour carrying the train of
Queen Alexandra during her anointing at the
1902 coronation of
Edward VII , depicted in a painting by
Laurits Tuxen .
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
George V
George V and
Queen Mary are attended by Pages of Honour in 1911 as they leave
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
Edward VIII
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
George VI
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
Elizabeth II
Pages of Honour to
Elizabeth II in the procession to
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle , during the annual service of the
Order of the Garter , 2006.
First Page of Honour
Second Page of Honour
Third Page of Honour
Fourth Page of Honour
Charles III
Pages of Honour at the
2023 State Opening of Parliament
The pages of honour at the
2023 coronation were:
[46]
First Page of Honour
2023–present: Nicholas Barclay
[48]
[t]
Second Page of Honour
2023–present: Ralph Tollemache
[48]
[u]
Third Page of Honour
2023–present: Charles van Cutsem
[48]
[v]
Fourth Page of Honour
2023–present: Lord Oliver Cholmondeley
[48]
[s]
Notes
^ Son of
Sir Henry Legge .
^ Son of
Sir Alexander Abel Smith and
Lady Abel Smith , a
lady-in-waiting to the Queen, and half-brother of
Sir Mark Palmer, 5th Baronet , First Page of Honour 1956–1959.
^ Son of
Sir Ashley Ponsonby, 2nd Baronet .
^ Son of
David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon .
^ Great-grandson of
Sir Harry Legge-Bourke .
^ Son of
Sir Harry Legge-Bourke .
^ Great-great-great-grandson of
Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne , and grandson of
Sir Jock Colville .
^ Son of
Samuel Vestey, 3rd Baron Vestey .
^ Son of
David Douglas-Home, 15th Earl of Home .
^ Son of
Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne .
^ Son of
Charles Stanhope, 12th Earl of Harrington .
^ Grandson of
Sir Harry Legge-Bourke .
^ Son of
Archibald Montgomerie, 18th Earl of Eglinton .
^ Son of
Daniel Chatto and
Lady Sarah Chatto .
^ Grandson of
Sir Piers Legh ,
Master of the Household 1941–1953.
^ Son of
Sir Jock Colville .
^ Son of
Katharine Fraser, Mistress of Saltoun .
^ Great-great-grandson of
Montagu Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon , of
John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute , and of
Sidney Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone .
^
a
b Son of
David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley .
^
a
b Grandson of
Sarah Troughton .
^
a
b Son of the Hon.
Edward Tollemache .
^ Grandson of
Hugh van Cutsem .
References
^
a
b
"Dress and insignia worn at His Majesty's court, issued with the authority of the lord chamberlain" . Archive.org . Retrieved 2016-03-30 .
^
"Photo of Page of Honour attending to the Queen in Edinburgh" . Flickr.com . Retrieved 2016-03-30 .
^ Earl Marshal's Regulations (1937) quoted in Mansfield, A., Ceremonial Costume , London: A & C Black, 1980.
^
"Lt Colonel Charles Augustus West" . My West Family . Retrieved 2023-07-21 .
^ Hatton, Joseph; Mitford, John; Nichols, John Gough; Parker, John Henry (1854).
"1854.J Lt.-Col. West. — Lt.-Col. Handcock. — G. Meynell, Esq. 193" . The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Review . XLII (MDCCCLIV): 193. Retrieved 21 July 2023 .
^ Millard, Lorraine (2015).
"Sampson Perry: A Forgotten Radical and his House of Commons Libel Case, 1792" (PDF) . UQ eSpace . The University of Queensland Australia. pp. 19, 93. Retrieved 21 July 2023 .
^
"No. 19275" .
The London Gazette . 2 June 1835. p. 1048.
^
a
b
"No. 24506" .
The London Gazette . 25 September 1877. p. 5367.
^
"No. 27100" .
The London Gazette . 18 July 1899. p. 4444.
^
"No. 27310" .
The London Gazette . 3 May 1901. p. 3033.
^
"No. 27466" .
The London Gazette . 19 August 1902. p. 5398.
^
"No. 38255" . The London Gazette . 6 April 1948. p. 2215.
^
"No. 38804" . The London Gazette . 3 January 1950. p. 59.
^
"No. 39430" . The London Gazette . 1 January 1952. p. 69.
^
"No. 38097" . The London Gazette . 14 October 1947. p. 4807.
^
"No. 39161" . The London Gazette . 2 March 1951. p. 1104.
^
a
b
"No. 37524" . The London Gazette . 5 April 1946. p. 1743.
^
"No. 38729" . The London Gazette . 4 October 1949. p. 4750.
^
"No. 39033" . The London Gazette . 3 October 1950. p. 4919.
^
a
b
c
d
"No. 39616" .
The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 August 1952. p. 4199.
^
"No. 40073" . The London Gazette . 12 January 1954. p. 303.
^
"No. 40936" . The London Gazette . 27 November 1956. p. 6727.
^
"No. 42610" . The London Gazette . 27 February 1962. p. 1681.
^
"No. 43400" . The London Gazette . 4 August 1964. p. 6607.
^
"No. 43834" . The London Gazette . 7 December 1965. p. 11447.
^
"No. 44362" . The London Gazette . 11 July 1967. p. 7641.
^
"No. 45140" . The London Gazette . 30 June 1970. p. 7205.
^
a
b
"No. 46848" . The London Gazette . 12 March 1976. p. 3813.
^
a
b
c
"No. 47734" . The London Gazette . 2 January 1979. p. 71.
^
"No. 48481" . The London Gazette . 2 January 1981. p. 77.
^
"No. 49404" . The London Gazette . 1 July 1983. p. 8697.
^
"No. 50474" . The London Gazette . 1 April 1986. p. 4495.
^
"No. 51525" . The London Gazette . 8 November 1988. p. 12509.
^
"No. 52647" . The London Gazette . 3 September 1991. p. 13427.
^
"No. 53836" . The London Gazette . 1 November 1994. p. 15279.
^ Walker, Tim (2012-03-01).
"The Queen turns a page for Viscount Linley's son" . Telegraph . Retrieved 2016-03-30 .
^
a
b
c Appendix to Court Circular, 27 February 2015.
^
"No. 40063" . The London Gazette . 1 January 1954. p. 98.
^
a
b
"No. 54036" .
The London Gazette . 16 May 1995. p. 6949.
^
a
b Appendix to Court Circular, 14 December 2012.
^ Appendix to Court Circular, 30 June 2019.
^
"No. 39822" . The London Gazette . 10 April 1953. p. 1971.
^
a
b Appendix to Court Circular, 13 July 2015.
^
"No. 40008" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 November 1953. p. 5921.
^
"No. 40733" . The London Gazette . 16 March 1956. p. 1583.
^
"Coronation order of service in full" . BBC News . 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023 .
^
"All the Boys Who Served as Pages of Honor at King Charles III's Coronation" . Harpers Bazaar . 6 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023 .
^
a
b
c
d State Opening of Parliament 2023, Court Circular 8 November 2023.
External links