Investiture - Secular Usage

Secular Usage

The term is used to describe the installation of individuals in institutions that usually have been extant from feudal times. For example, the installation of heads of state and various other state functions with ceremonial roles are invested with office. Usually the investiture involves ceremonial transfer of the symbols of the particular office

Judges in many countries, including justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, are invested with their office. American justices typically take two oaths: one to uphold the Constitution of the United States, and the other to apply justice equally. Likewise, university presidents, rectors and chancellors are invested with office.

In the United Kingdom, around 2,600 people are invested personally by The Queen or a member of the Royal Family. A list of those to be honoured is published twice a year, in either the New Year Honours or the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Approximately 24 investitures are held annually in Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, one at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland. Previously, one investiture ceremony a year would also be held in Cardiff.

There is also a poem written by Siegfried Sassoon called "The Investiture". The poem is about a young man who was killed in battle during World War I.

The term is used in the Scout Association when enrolling a new youth member or an existing member is moving to a different section such as from Cubs to Scouts.

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