And the people who *do* see these instruments probably aren't too fussed by the lack of punctuation. I wouldn't be surprised if many people don't even read their patents. For them, the patent is a symbol rather than a text to be read. 3/3

In practice, many Letters Patent are produced for a fairly limited audience. Most are never formally published, so unless someone makes a FOIA request, they won't be seen by anyone except the recipient and their circle. 2/3

Adding punctuation wouldn't necessarily require a formal announcement. As far as I know, there's no explicit rule banning it or anything like that. It's simply a case of the Crown Office doing things the way they've always been done. Readability may not even be a major concern. 1/3

It wouldn't be the first time!

That's actually unusual--Warrants normally use Bookman Old Style.

It's the Second Seal.

That's a welcome change, though given the decline in gazetting, it's probably not as impactful as it would have been 20+ years ago.

It wasn't a courtesy title. His peerages were conferred on him by Letters Patent and he had a seat in the House of Lords until 1999.

I could see how the traditional arguments against disclosing honors-related material would still apply. If the decision-makers need a safe space in which to discuss the merits of giving someone an honor, one could argue they also need a space in which to discuss the merits of taking one away.

On a side note, s. 37(1)(b) of the FOIA states that information is exempt from disclosure if it relates to "the conferring by the Crown of any honour or dignity" though this is not an absolute exemption and so there is a public interest test.

Also, some officers of the Orders are members of the Royal Family. For example, the Queen is Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire, the Princess Royal is Grand Master of the Royal Victorian Order, and the Prince of Wales is Great Master of the Order of the Bath.

Nope. In practice, the administration of the Orders is handled by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood which is part of the Lord Chamberlain's Office.

Letters Patent annulling the appointment of a Knight Bachelor are an exception to this rule. Those *are* handled by the Crown Office since they pass under the Great Seal. 2/2 cbaionline.org/corpus/items...