Description
The Order includes three classes, in descending order of seniority:
- Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GCMG)
- Knight Commander (KCMG) or Dame Commander (DCMG)
- Companion (CMG)
It is used to honour individuals who have rendered important services in relation to Commonwealth or foreign nations. People are appointed to the Order rather than awarded it. British Ambassadors to foreign nations are regularly appointed as KCMGs or CMGs. For example, the former British Ambassador to the United States, Sir David Manning, was appointed a CMG when he worked for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and then after his appointment as British Ambassador to the US, he was promoted to a Knight Commander (KCMG). It is the traditional award for members of the FCO.
The Order's motto is Auspicium melioris ævi (Latin for "Token of a better age"). Its patron saints, as the name suggests, are St. Michael the Archangel and St. George. One of its primary symbols is that of St Michael trampling over Satan.
The Order is the sixth-most senior in the British honours system, after The Most Noble Order of the Garter, which is the pinnacle of the British honours system, The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, The Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick, The Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India. The third of the aforementioned Orders—which relates to Ireland, no longer fully a part of the United Kingdom—still exists but is in disuse; no appointments have been made to it since 1936. The last of the Orders on the list, related to India, has also been in disuse since that country's independence in 1947.
Read more about this topic: Order Of St Michael And St George
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