The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from an elaborate medieval ceremony for preparing a candidate to receive his knighthood, of which ritual bathing was an element. While not all knights went through such an elaborate ceremony, knights so created were known as "knights of the Bath".
Most Honourable Order of the Bath breast star of a Knight / Dame Grand Cross (Civil Division)
Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, KB, with sash, c. 1630
Sir Robert Walpole, who as Prime Minister used the Order for political patronage
Admiral Lord Rodney (appointed a Knight Companion in 1780) wearing the riband and star of the Order.
An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades and paired with medieval concepts of ideals of chivalry.
Alfonso XIII of Spain (left) with his cousin-in-law, the future King George V (right), during his State Visit to the United Kingdom in 1905. Alfonso is wearing the uniform of a general of the British Army, the Royal Victorian Chain, the sash and star of the Garter, the cross of the Order of Charles III, the neck badge of the Golden Fleece, and the badge of the four Spanish military orders. George, then Prince of Wales, is wearing the neck badge of the Golden Fleece, the sash and grand cross grade of the Order of Charles III, the Royal Victorian Chain, and the stars of the Garter and the
Investiture of three new members of the Order of the Knot (miniature from the order's statutes, 1352/4).
Spanish orders of chivalry. In the centre, the Order of the Golden Fleece, 1820
Lemuel Francis Abbott's portrait of Admiral Lord Nelson depicting his honours embroidered on his coat jacket