and
Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser aboard at
Scapa Flow, August 1943. The King is wearing the uniform of an admiral of the fleet. The origins of the rank can be traced back to
John Beauchamp, 1st Baron Beauchamp of Warwick, who was appointed '
Admiral of the King's Southern, Northern and Western Fleets' on 18 July 1360. The appointment gave the command of the English navy to one person for the first time; this evolved into the post of admiral of the fleet. In the days of sailing ships the
admiral distinctions then used by the Royal Navy included distinctions related to the fleet being divided into three divisions – red, white, or blue. Each division was assigned at least one
admiral, who in turn commanded a number of
vice-admirals and
rear admirals. While the full admirals were nominally equals, tradition gave precedence to the admiral of the white who held the fleet rank in addition to his substantive role. The ranks of admiral of the Fleet and
admiral of the red were formally separated from 1805, with an announcement in the
London Gazette that "His Majesty [has] been pleased to order the Rank of Admirals of the Red to be restored" in His Majesty's Navy..." as a separate role. The same
Gazette promoted 22 men to that rank. From the nineteenth century onward there were also occasional variations to the previous requirement that only one admiral of the fleet could serve at a time. In 1821,
George IV appointed
Sir John Jervis as a second admiral of the fleet, to balance the
Duke of Wellington's promotion as a second Field Marshal in the British Army. In 1830,
King William IV increased the number of admirals of the fleet to three, though these additional lifetime postings subsequently lapsed. Between 1854 and 1857 there was no admiral of the fleet at all as the most senior naval officer of the time, Admiral of the Red
Thomas Le Marchant Gosselin, was mentally ill and had not served at sea for forty-five years. In deference to Gosselin's seniority, the position was instead left vacant until his death in 1857, whereupon it was filled by Admiral
Sir Charles Ogle. During the two World Wars a number of serving officers held active commissions as admirals of the fleet, as well as First Sea Lordfor example,
Sir John Tovey.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was created an admiral of the fleet in the
Royal New Zealand Navy in 1954, following the
coronation of his wife
Elizabeth II as Queen. This promotion was to a New Zealand rank, separate from the Royal Navy rank. Following the creation of the
Chief of the Defence Staff in 1959, the five naval officers appointed to that position became admirals of the fleet. Recognizing the reduced post-
Cold War size of the British Armed Forces, no further appointments were made to the rank after 1995 (when
Sir Benjamin Bathurst was appointed admiral of the fleet upon his retirement as First Sea Lord). The rank was not abolished and in 2012 the Prince of Wales (now King
Charles III) became an honorary admiral of the fleet (as well as an honorary
field marshal of the Army and honorary
marshal of the Royal Air Force), in recognition of his support to Queen Elizabeth II in her role of as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces. In 2014,
Lord Boyce, a former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff, was also appointed an honorary admiral of the fleet. ==Admirals of the Fleet==