Lord High Admiral (United Kingdom)



The Lord High Admiral (of England, Great Britain and then the United Kingdom, beginning in the 15th century) is the titular head of the Royal Navy. Most have been courtiers or members of the Royal Family, and not professional naval officers. In medieval England the Lord High Admiral was one of the nine Great Officers of State.

From the 17th century onwards, when an individual Lord High Admiral was appointed, there was also a Council of the Lord High Admiral which assisted him and performed some of the duties of the Admiralty. When the office was not occupied by an individual, it was "put into commission" and exercised by a board of Lords Commissioners headed by a First Lord of the Admiralty, and this was the usual arrangement from 1709 until 1964, when the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was finally abolished and the functions of the Lords Commissioners were transferred to the Admiralty Board of the tri-service Defence Council of the United Kingdom.

In 1964 the ancient title of Lord High Admiral was vested in the sovereign. In 2011, the title was bestowed by Elizabeth II onto her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the occasion of his 90th birthday.