"The announcement of Her Majesty The Queen’s passing has been met with profound sadness around the globe and transcended generations.

At the Royal Hospital School, we have been incredibly grateful for the personal interest Her Majesty has shown in our school. We are very proud of our association with the Royal Family over many years, making this news all the more keenly felt.

Her inspirational leadership and immense personal integrity have been examples to successive generations - a true stateswoman who has steered her family, the nation, the Commonwealth and all its people through periods of historic change, guided by her Christian faith. The example she has set of dedication and service has been an enduring feature of her reign.

Our community of former and current pupils, parents, governors and staff extend our thoughts and prayers to her family and all those who share in the loss and profound sadness at the passing of our treasured and much-loved Monarch."

Simon Lockyer
Headmaster

HM Queen Elizabeth II had a strong connection with our royal school, as have all the 11 monarchs who have gone before her since the founding of the Royal Hospital School in 1712. As its name suggests, RHS has many royal connections, but one of the most obvious is the Queen's Banner which is paraded at Divisions at least four times a year: on Remembrance Sunday, Founders' Day, Sports Day and Speech Day. We have created a news archive to reflect on some of these royal moments over the years and, in particular, the recent celebrations of HM The Queen's Platinum Jubilee.
 

Her Majesty The Queen was born on 21st April 1926. She was the Head of State and Sovereign of the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as Queen of 12 other countries, such as Grenada and Barbados. She was also Head of the Commonwealth: an inter-governmental organisation of 56 independent states, most of which were once part of the British Empire. She was the longest reigning British monarch, having acceded to the throne on 6th February 1952 at the age of just 25. She has been Queen and Head of State for over 70 years. 

Elizabeth II also had a strong connection with this royal school, as have all the 11 monarchs who have gone before her since the founding of RHS in 1712. Indeed, the Queen reviewed the whole school drawn up in divisions in 1994 to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of Greenwich Hospital, our parent charity. The Royal Hospital School, as its name suggests, has many royal connections, but one of the most obvious is the Queen’s Banner which is paraded at Divisions at least four times a year: on Remembrance Sunday, Founders’ Day, Sports Day and Speech Day. 

The school is unique in having its own royal banner which you can see in the school reception throughout the year. Sometimes they are called standards or guidons or banners, but the collective name is a colour. Colours are the flags of regiments and no other school in the country has a proper colour presented by the sovereign. In fact, 2018 marked the school having a royal banner for over 100 years. It was first presented by King George V, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandfather, in 1918 as a mark of appreciation of the service given to the Royal Navy by the pupils of this school, not least in the First World War and, particularly, at the Battle of Jutland. Over 1,000 former RHS pupils served on ships at the Battle of Jutland and at least 101 died in that battle: it could well be more, but many records are lost. That battle which lasted from 31st May to 1st June 1916 was the greatest naval engagement of the Great War; RHS lost more pupils in one 24 hour period than any other British school in one day before or since. It was truly a banner hard won and the banner is a visible reminder to us all of this school’s historic service to the nation and to its sovereign. 

Until 1992, the great honour of carrying the banner on parade at Divisions was competed for fiercely, initially by the school’s companies (as that was how the school was organised until the 1930s) and then by its houses in a similar way that today the houses compete for the Bannerman Trophy for smartness and bearing. Since 1992, the carrying of the banner has been under the direction of the Chief Petty Officers or Chiefs, RHS naval slang for our School Prefects. At the end of each year on Speech Day, it is physically transferred in Chapel from one of the outgoing Heads of School to one of the incoming Heads of School. It is always ceremoniously escorted, as now, by Guard Commanders carrying naval cutlasses. 

By 1968, this banner was somewhat worn and tattered after 50 years of continual use. HM The Queen asked her mother, Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, to present a new banner to RHS on her behalf, which she did on Speech Day that year. The original King’s Banner was then laid up and is in a display case in reception. The first Queen’s Banner was used until 2006 when it was replaced by the current Queen’s Banner and the former banner laid up in chapel where it hangs today.  

The ceremonial Queen’s Banner should not be confused with the school flag which is raised and lowered each working day at RHS. This flag is known officially as a defaced blue ensign. This is a naval blue ensign with a badge added to make it unique, in our case with the arms of Greenwich Hospital. RHS is the only school in the country to be allowed such a flag, so we are doubly unique with our ensign and our banner. HM The Queen allowed the Admiralty to grant us the privilege of the ensign in 1953 as another reward for service. 

History has many instances of British soldiers dying courageously in battle in their attempts to prevent colours from falling into the hands of enemies as such colours have always been the personal gift of the monarch. Soldiers have known that it is a privilege to carry them. We are fortunate to have that privilege awarded as a reward for the service of the Royal Hospital School. 

This text was adapted from a Chapel address on the Queen's 90th birthday by Mr Matthew Christmas, Assistant Head (Academic):