… you’ve got to love it for its sheer over-the-top eccentricity.
“Norfolk was degraded from the Order of the Garter, his achievements being removed from his stall at Windsor and, as custom demanded, being kicked into the moat.”
From Elizabeth the Queen
Wikipedia obliges in setting out the names of some 20th-century recipients who were so treated, but doesn’t say if the ceremony has survived:
The Sovereign may “degrade” members who have committed serious crimes, such as treason. During the First World War, several Stranger Knights who were monarchs of enemy nations had their memberships revoked. The appointments of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria were annulled in 1915.[3] The membership of Emperor Hirohito of Japan was removed after Japan entered World War II, but he was reappointed after the war by Elizabeth II. (Thus, Hirohito was uniquely made a Knight of the Garter by two different Sovereigns.)
Google didn’t oblige. Anyone know? And have any archaeologists followed up on this opportunity?
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