Lord High Admiral

Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh , Lord High Admiral since 2011

Flag of the Lord High Admiral

Lord High Admiral is an office in the United Kingdom that is part of the Great Officers of State . The function is now only of a purely ceremonial character, but was once responsible within the British Admiralty for the supreme command of the Royal Navy . From the beginning of the 18th century to the middle of the 20th century, the official business of the Lord High Admiral was led by a committee chaired by the First Lord of the Admiralty (" First Lord of the Admiralty "). In 1964, the Admiralty was incorporated into the UK's newly created Department of Defense , with the title of First Lord of the Admiralty disappearing. The historical title of Lord High Admiral, however, still exists today as the ceremonial office of the Great Officers of State .

history

The history of this office is closely linked to the history of the British Admiralty : the position of Admiral of England (or Lord Admiral , later Lord High Admiral ) was created around 1400 under King Henry IV , although there were already admirals in the northern and western regions There were sea areas. The office of Lord High Admiral is thus the last office among the nine Great Officials of the State, the Great Officers of State .

In 1546 King Henry VIII set up the Council of the Marine , which later became the Navy Board to oversee administrative affairs of the fleet. The operational management and control of the fleet remained the responsibility of the Lord High Admiral .

In 1628 Charles I awarded the office of Lord High Admiral for the first time in commission, d. H. the official business was taken over by a committee, the Board of Admiralty . The committee members were designated as the Lords Commissioner of the Admiralty . Her official title was Commissioners for Exercising the Office of Lord High Admiral of England , later Great Britain or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland . Until 1709 the official business of the Lord High Admiral was carried out several times, until the second half of the 20th century almost exclusively on commission. In 1831 the Navy Board was abolished and its duties transferred to the Board of Admiralty .

From this commission, the admiralty developed over time , which was composed of admirals of the Royal Navy and civilians. The chairmanship of the entire Board of Admiralty was led by the First Lord of the Admiralty ("First Lord of the Admiralty"), who was usually a member of the cabinet and after 1806 was always a civilian. He had political responsibility for the Royal Navy and was sometimes referred to as the "Minister of the Navy" for this reason. The office of Lord High Admiral lost its importance, but remained as a ceremonial office under the nine Great Officers of State . Well-known First Lords of the Admiralty were u. a. Lord Tweedmouth (1906–1908), Reginald McKenna (1908–1911), Winston Churchill (1911–1915 and 1939–1940), Arthur Balfour (1915–1916), Sir Austen Chamberlain (1931), Alfred Cooper (1937–1938) and Brendan Bracken (1945).

In 1964 were Admiralty , War Office and Air Ministry for Defense of the United Kingdom combined, bringing some old names disappeared from the history of the Royal Navy such. B. the title of First Lord of the Admiralty . The historic title of Lord High Admiral was not given up in the course of these reforms, but transferred to the monarch and passed on to Queen Elizabeth II .

In 2011 Elizabeth II handed over the title of Lord High Admiral on the occasion of his 90th birthday to her husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh . He had served in the Royal Navy during World War II and had been Admiral of the Fleet since 1953 .