Order of the Indian Empire
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878.[1] The Order includes members of three classes:
Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire
1878
Imperatricis auspiciis
At the monarch's pleasure
Not awarded since 1947
Dormant order since 2010
Knight Grand Commander (GCIE)
Knight Commander (KCIE)
Companion (CIE)
Appointments terminated after 1947, the year that British India became the independent Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. With the death of the last surviving knight, the Maharaja Meghrajji III of Dhrangadhra, the order became dormant in 2010. The motto of the Order is Imperatricis auspiciis, (Latin for "Under the auspices of the Empress"), a reference to Queen Victoria, the first Empress of India. The Order is the junior British order of chivalry associated with the British Indian Empire; the senior one is The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India.
The British founded the Order in 1878 to reward British and native officials who served in British India. The Order originally had only one class (Companion), but expanded to comprise two classes in 1887.[2] The British authorities intended the Order of the Indian Empire as a less exclusive version of the Order of the Star of India (founded in 1861);[3] consequently, many more appointments were made to the former than to the latter.
On 15 February 1887, the Order of the Indian Empire formally became "The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire" and was divided into two classes: knights commander and companions, with the following as knights commander, listed up to 1906[4][5][6][7]
(in date order)
However, on 21 June 1887, a further proclamation regarding the Order was made; the Order was expanded from two classes to three – Knight Grand Commander, Knight Commander and Companion. Seven knights grand commander were created, namely:[9]
Also from 1897, 3 honorary knights commander were made.
Including Léon Émile Clément-Thomas (1897), Col. Sir Eduardo Augusto Rodriques Galhardo (Jan 1901) and Sir Hussien Kuli Khan, Mokhber-ed-Dowlet (June 1902).[6]
Emperor Gojong of Korea was made an honorary Knight Grand Commander on 17 December 1900.[7]
Appointments to both the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire ceased after 14 August 1947. As the last Grand Master of the orders, the Earl Mountbatten of Burma was also the last known individual to have publicly worn the stars of a Knight Grand Commander of both orders, during the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.[10] The Orders have never been formally abolished, and King Charles III remains the Sovereign of the Orders. There are no living members of the order.[11]
The fictional characters Purun Dass, invented by Rudyard Kipling, and Harry Paget Flashman, invented by George MacDonald Fraser, were KCIEs; Kipling's engineer Findlayson in The Day's Work (1908) aspires to the CIE.
Members of the order wore elaborate costumes on important ceremonial occasions:
At less important occasions, simpler insignia were used:
The insignia of most other British chivalric orders incorporate a cross; the Order of the Indian Empire does not, in deference to India's non-Christian tradition.
