Which Anglo-Irish order of chivalry adopted blue as its colour in 1783?

Which Anglo-Irish order of chivalry adopted blue as its colour in 1783? The answer is the Order of St Patrick.

Founded in 1783 by King George III, the Order of St Patrick was the senior chivalric order of the Kingdom of Ireland. Its regalia used a light, sky-blue colour later known as St Patrick’s blue. The order’s colour distinguished it from the dark blue of the Order of the Garter and the green of the Order of the Thistle.

The choice is often confused with Ireland’s modern association with green. Green had older Irish connections and became strongly linked with Irish nationalism, especially through the United Irishmen in the 1790s. Blue, however, was the colour specifically adopted by this royal order.

The shade was not always identical in practice, and “St Patrick’s blue” was not the order’s formal official name for the colour. The association nevertheless helped make blue part of Ireland’s heraldic and ceremonial history.