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Explore Your Archive 2024: Family

Posted Thursday 28th November
Museum of the Order of St John Sophie Denman (Archivist)

Today is the eighth day of Explore Your Archive, a celebration of archives of all kinds across the nation, organised by the Archives & Records Association for UK & Ireland, and today’s theme is ‘Family’.

St John has a close connection with one family particular: the royal family. Since Queen Victoria granted St John a royal charter in 1888, the sovereign head of the United Kingdom also becomes the sovereign head of the Order of St John.

His Majesty King Charles is the Sovereign Head of the Order of St John, a role which he took on when he ascended to the throne as the King of England. He is also a Royal Patron of St John, a role which is distinct from his role as St John’s Sovereign Head; it is an additional choice that he made to align himself with our charity and its lifesaving mission.

Other than the sovereign, other members of the royal family have, over the years, chosen to champion, promote, and align themselves with St John Ambulance. Today, HRH Princess Anne is the Commandant in Chief of the St John Cadets, HRH Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester is the Grand Prior of the Priory of England and the Islands of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex is the Grand President of St John Ambulance, and she volunteered in the NHS Vaccination Programme in 2021.

Here are some photographs from the Archive of members of the royal family engaging with St John over the years.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen mother is standing in the middle of a group of people. She is wearing a light coloured long coat and hat, and an animal skin scarf. She is talking to a woman, dressed in the uniform of a St John Ambulance Brigade Nursing member. Behind them is a group of men and women. Some of these people are dressed in the uniform of St John Ambulance Brigade members, and others are in civilian dress.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother attending a Flag Day event for the Committee of the British Red Cross and the Order of St John (PHA1672)

 

Four St John Ambulance Cadets dressed in their Cadet uniform are carrying a patient on a stretcher on a sports field, who is covered with a blanket. Two female Cadets are at the foot of the stretcher, and two male Cadets are at the head of the stretcher. Three St John Ambulance adult members in adult uniform, three civilians, and Prince Philip are standing and observing.
Prince Philip watching Cadets in a casualty evacuation display on a visit to the St John Ambulance Brigade Portsmouth Division, 1978 (PHA5263)

 

Queen Elizabeth II, dressed in a yellow dress, yellow jacket, and yellow hat, is standing next to a man dressed in a blue circus ringleader’s outfit with a white shirt and dark bow tie, and admiring three elephants. In the background is a crowd of civilians observing, and behind that, two hot air balloons are visible.
Queen Elizabeth II with Bobby Roberts Junior and elephants from Roberts Brothers Super Circus at Hyde Park for St John Ambulance’s 100th anniversary in 1987 (PHA11876)
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