A Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The only physical activity involved is usually carrying the long train of the Sovereign's robes. This position is distinct from that of a page in the Royal Household, which is the senior rank of uniformed staff.
Pages of Honour participate in major ceremonies involving the British monarch, including coronations and the State Opening of Parliament. It is usually a distinction granted to teenage sons of members of the nobility and gentry, and especially of senior members of the Royal Household.
Contents
Livery
Pages of Honour in England wear a scarlet frock coat with gold trimmings, a white satin waistcoat, white breeches and hose, white gloves, black buckled shoes and a lace cravat and ruffles. A sword is also worn with the outfit and a feathered three-cornered hat is provided. In Scotland the outfit is identical, but in green rather than scarlet (as seen periodically at the Thistle Service in Edinburgh). In Ireland, when Pages of Honour were attendant upon the King, Pages of Honour wore exactly the same uniform as at the English Court, except that the colour was St. Patrick's blue with silver lace.
At coronations, the peers who carry regalia in the procession (and others with particular roles in the service) were expected to have their own pages in attendance. These pages are directed to wear "the same pattern of clothes as the Pages of Honour wear, but of the Livery colour of the Lords they attend... [except that] ...the Royal liveries being scarlet and gold, the use of this combination of colours is restricted to the Pages of Honour, and in the case of a Peer whose colours are scarlet and gold, for scarlet some variant, such as murrey or claret, should be used."
Pages of Honour by monarch
Charles II
1661–1662: Bevil Skelton
1661–1669: John Napier
1662–1668: Sidney Godolphin
1664–1665: Rupert Dillon
1665–1671?: Thomas Felton
1668–1678: John Berkeley
1668–1676: William Legge
1670: Charles Wyndham
1671–1685: Robert Killigrew
1671–1685: Aubrey Porter
1673–1678: John Prideaux
1674–1678: Henry Wroth
1678–1685: Thomas Pulteney
1680–1685: Sutton Oglethorpe
1681–1685: Charles Skelton
James II
1685: Thomas Windsor
1685: Reynold Graham
1685: James Levinston
William III
John Brockhuisen appears in the post-mortem accounts of the Board of Green Cloth as a page of honour to William III, but this may be an error, as he appears elsewhere as a pensioner after serving as Queen Mary's page of honour.
Charles III
The pages of honour at the 2023 coronation were:
Prince George of Wales
Lord Oliver Cholmondeley
Nicholas Barclay
Ralph Tollemache