The article is about the order of chivalry known as "Star of India". For other items of the same name, please see disambiguation at Star of India.
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:
Knight Grand Commander (GCSI) Knight Commander (KCSI) Companion (CSI)
No appointments have been made since the Partition of India in 1947. The last living knight, The Maharaja of Alwar, died in 2009 and the order became dormant.
The motto of the Order is Heaven's light our guide. The "Star of India", the emblem of the Order, also appeared on the flag of the Viceroy of India.
The Order is the senior order of chivalry of the Empire of India; the junior order is The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, and there was also, for women only the Imperial Order of the Crown of India. It is the fifth-most-senior British order of chivalry, following The Most Noble Order of the Garter, The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, and The Most Honourable Order of the Bath.
History
After the Indian Mutiny the British government created a new order of knighthood to honour Indian Princes and Chiefs, as well as British officers and administrators who served in India. On 25 June 1861, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation creating "The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India" to "reward conspicuous merit and loyalty"
The first appointees were:
HRH The Prince Consort
"Sardar-i-Bawakar" Sardar Mangal Singh of Amritsar
HRH The Prince of Wales
HH Nawab Mir Tahniyat Ali Khan Bahadur, Afzal-ud-Daula, Asaf Jah V, the 5th Nizam of Hyderabad HH Jayajirao Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior HH Maharaja Duleep Singh, former Maharaja of the Sikh Empire HH Ranbir Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir HH Tukojirao Holkar, Maharaja of Indore HH Narendra Singh, Maharaja of Patiala HH Khanderrao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda HH Nawab Sikander Begum, Nawab Begum of Bhopal HH Yusef Ali Khan Bahadur, Nawab of Rampur The Lord Gough, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army The Lord Harris, Governor of Madras The Lord Clyde, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army Sir George Russell Clerk, Kt., Governor of Bombay Sir John Laird Mair Lawrence, Bt., GCB, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab Sir James Outram, Bt., GCB, Member of the Viceroy's Council Sir Hugh Henry Rose, GCB, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army
The Order of the Indian Empire, founded in 1877, was intended to be a less exclusive version of the Order of the Star of India; consequently, many more appointments were made to the former than to the latter.
Appointments to the Orders relating to the British Empire in India ceased after 14 August 1947. The Orders have never been formally abolished and Elizabeth II succeeded her father George VI as Sovereign of the Orders when she ascended the throne in 1952. She remains Sovereign of the Order to this day. Today, there are no living members of the order: The last Grand Master of the Order, Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1900–1979), died on 27 August 1979. The last surviving GCSI, HH Maharaja Sri Sir Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the Maharaja of Travancore (1912–1991), died on 19 July 1991 in Trivandrum. The last surviving KCSI, HH Maharaja Sri Sir Tej Singh Prabhakar Bahadur (1911–2009), the Maharaja of Alwar, died on 15 February 2009 in New Delhi. The last surviving CSI, Vice-Admiral Sir Ronald Brockman (1909–1999), died on 3 September 1999 in London.
Composition
The British Sovereign was, and still is, Sovereign of the Order. The next-most senior member was the Grand Master; the position was held, ex officio, by the Viceroy of India. When the Order was established in 1861, there was only one class of Knights Companions, who bore the postnominals KSI. In 1866, however, it was expanded to three classes. Members of the first class were known as "Knights Grand Commanders", rather than "Knights Grand Cross", so as not to offend the non-Christian Indians appointed to the Order. All those surviving members who had already been made Knights Companions of the Order were made Knights Grand Commanders.