Governor General and the uniform

[George Wallace]

There was a reason, when I was posted to Comox, that every important parade was staffed with remusters from the Army

Guess that doesn't leave CDN Aviator off the hook.    >

And soon he may land up a Gd Comd.  > >

 

[quadrapiper]

He, that guard commander, also buggered up the vice regal salute - half the (visible) people went to the present from the shoulder and the other half from the order. Oh well, it's only NDHQ and no, there are never sergeants major around when they are needed - lots of very senior WOs but no sergeants major.

Why, oh why, don't we use (maybe just... an RSM from) one of the Guards regiments for this sort of thing?

And the sword-belt with Naval DEU... where does that come from? And why does nobody fix the offending individuals, or at least fire off a MARGEN? Seem to remember seeing this done at at least one other high-profile event; something Naval Centennial in Halifax, with Jean present.

 

[XMP]

Sword and sword belt was worn over the jacket by the Navy until about the mid 1950s. Maybe the good  Commander was given an old copy of RCN Dress Regs....
To return to the thread topic, the GG is provided with appropriate DEU and it is his/her decision to wear it.  These are the epaulette slides and the cuff insignia.  Headwear is the General Officers pattern.

 

[Lex Parsimoniae]

Which is actually more appropriate when one only has a single medal.  As I recall, when one has two or more, they are "court" mounted, so that when one is in the Royal Court, they don't "ding" (from swinging) when you move about.  The fellow with the GCS-SWA to his right is less-correct (though accepted) with his court-mounted single medal.

FWIW - the CD is now unwearable without court mounting.  The last few that I presented had notches cut out with scissors to mount it in the box.

 

[Pusser]

Neither is he wearing insignia of the orders in which he was invested as part of the installation ceremony that finished just before he went outside and inspected the guard as seen in the photo.  The orders, decorations and medals that he is wearing in the photo were all received long before he was selected to become GG.  The Canadian Forces Decoration was not (IIRC) one of the honours presented to him during the installation ceremony when he was also made Chancellor(s) of The Order of Canada (a promotion since he is already a Companion of the order). Order of Military Merit and Order of Merit of the Police Forces.  I don't know the usual protocol for presentation of the CD to Governors-General, but my expectation is it will likely be presented to him by the CDS.  Hopefully, it won't be during a coffee break as was the case when I received mine.

As for individuals on that parade being out of dress . . . it appears that the somewhat rotund Air Force NCM just to the left of the GG does not have his CD court mounted.  Also, while he is not visible in the above photo, the guard commander (a LCdr) was wearing the black leather CF sword belt outside his naval uniform.  I haven't been able to find any photos of that officer but recall it from watching the ceremony on TV.

\

The Governor General is not wearing a CD because he has not yet been presented it.  The CDS will do that at a later date.  The installation does not include investiture in the other orders (the Order of Military Merit and the Order of Merit for the Police Forces - he was a Companion of the Order of Canada before).  The insignia for those were presented a private audience with Her Majesty a number of weeks ago.  He's not wearing those other orders because he's not wearing a uniform.  In civilian dress, one only wears one neck badge and it is up to the person to decide which one (may depend on the occasion).  If he were wearing an open collared uniform tunic, then he could wear two neck badges.  In a high-collared tunic, he could wear three.  Chancellor's Chains are only worn for specific occasions (e.g. at an Order of Canada investiture).

The naval guard officer should have his knuckles rapped for wearing his sword belt wrong (I saw it too).  Does no one bother to check this stuff anymore?

 

[Pusser]

Sword and sword belt was worn over the jacket by the Navy until about the mid 1950s. Maybe the good  Commander was given an old copy of RCN Dress Regs....
To return to the thread topic, the GG is provided with appropriate DEU and it is his/her decision to wear it.  These are the epaulette slides and the cuff insignia.  Headwear is the General Officers pattern.

The Navy used to have two sword belts:  dress and undress.  The Dress sword belt was adorned with gold braid, depending on the rank of the wearer (two gold stripes for junior officers, three for senior officers and oak leaves for flag officers). the undress sword belts were plain black leather.

Dress belts were worn outside the frock coat.  The frock coat fell into disuse during WWII due to expense, was not resurrected after the war and was eventually removed from the orders of dress altogether (probably in the 1950s).  There are examples of both frock coats and dress sword belts on display at the Maritime Command Museum in Halifax.  In fact one frock coat (Admiral Pullen's I believe) had the braid removed during WWII to be used on another uniform because of the scarcity of braid.  The only people left who still wear naval frock coats and dress sword belts are the Royal Family (Prince Charles was married in that rig).

The undress sword belt was always worn under the tunic.  It does not need to be adorned with any fancy gold braid because it's not supposed to be seen.  When the frock coat was discontinued and the regular tunic became the highest order of dress, the practice of wearing the belt under the tunic continued.

 

[jranrose]

Sword and sword belt was worn over the jacket by the Navy until about the mid 1950s. Maybe the good  Commander was given an old copy of RCN Dress Regs....
To return to the thread topic, the GG is provided with appropriate DEU and it is his/her decision to wear it.  These are the epaulette slides and the cuff insignia.  Headwear is the General Officers pattern.

XMP,
Excellent photo's of the GG badges! I've been looking for some good photos of them, I even contacted the GG public affairs to get them but so far it's a no go. Nice job!