Quatuor Coronati Lodge: Our Next Meeting

Quatuor Coronati Lodge meets five times a year on the second Thursday in November (Installation); third Thursday in February; second Thursday in May; fourth Thursday in June; and second Thursday in September. Lodge meetings are usually held at Freemasons’ Hall, Great Queen Street, London, and open at 4.00pm.
Members of QCCC are very welcome to attend Lodge meetings. Please email us in advance if possible to let us know you will be present: secretary@quatuorcoronati.com.

Thursday, 11 May 2023
The Royal Family & Freemasonry

John Hawkins

The Prestonian Lecture for 2022

In the 209 years since the Union of the Premier and Antient Grand Lodges to form the United Grand Lodge of England, a member of the Royal Family has been its Grand Master for more than 150. The Union itself in 1813 was facilitated by the heads of the two constituent Grand Lodges both of whom were royal princes and brothers, the Dukes of Sussex and Kent. Prior to the Union, members of the Royal Family had already been Grand Masters of the Premier Grand Lodge for over 30 years. However, the royal connection goes back even further with Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales and eldest son of King George II, having been initiated in 1737. The present Duke of Kent has been Grand Master of the Craft since 1967 and Prince Michael of Kent Grand Master of the Mark since 1982.

This lecture discusses not only those members of the Royal Family whose contributions to the Craft remain well-known today, of whom King Edward VII and the Duke of Connaught are examples, but other members who are now less well remembered, including the ill-fated Dukes of Albany and Clarence. Members of the Royal Family who were not Freemasons have nonetheless supported its charities and recognised its force for good and Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, are not omitted from John’s paper.

The author has been provided with unprecedented access to the archives of United Grand Lodge and has also drawn on material from the Royal Archives at Windsor and contemporary news reports.

John Hawkins is an independent researcher and author with interests in art, family, local, masonic, military and social history, having published in most of these areas. John’s working life was spent in finance and risk management. On his retirement a decade or so ago he had the time to take his interest in history seriously and added a DPhil from Oxford to his MA and other degrees. He was Initiated in Westminster & Keystone Lodge No. 10 in 1974 and Exalted in No. 10 Chapter three years later, subsequently joining several other orders.

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Members can read the delivery paper here: AQC136.03 Hawkins
The paper is copyright and may not be reproduced.
Please email any questions and/or your comments on the paper to editor@quatuorcoronati.com for publication in the next volume of AQC.

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