Order of the Star of India

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:

Knight Grand Commander (GCSI)

Knight Commander (KCSI)

Companion (CSI)

No appointments have been made since the 1948 New Year Honours, shortly after the Partition of India in 1947. Following the death in 2009 of the last surviving knight, the Tej Singh Prabhakar, Maharaja of Alwar, the order became dormant.

The motto of the order was "Heaven's Light Our Guide." The Star of India emblem, the insignia of the order and the informal emblem of British India, was also used as the basis of a series of flags to represent the Indian Empire.

The order was the fifth most senior British order of chivalry, following the Order of the Garter, Order of the Thistle, Order of St Patrick and Order of the Bath. It is the senior order of chivalry associated with the British Raj; junior to it is the Order of the Indian Empire, and there is also, for women only, the Imperial Order of the Crown of India.