HM Queen Victoria (1819-1901)
Sovereign Head 1888-1901
Painted by Ernest Dudley Heath, 1898 (oil on canvas, Museum of the Order of St John).
Queen Victoria is depicted wearing the Badge of the Order on her sash, and is possibly holding the Royal Charter of 1888.
HM King Edward VII (1841-1910)
Grand Prior 1888-1901, Sovereign Head 1901-1910
Painted by Luke Fildes 1905 (oil on canvas, Royal College of Physicians, London).
King Edward is depicted wearing the Sovereign’s jewelled neck badge of the Order of St John, and the insignia of the Order of the Garter.
HM King George V (1865-1936)
Sub-Prior 1893-1901, Grand Prior 1901-1910, Sovereign Head 1910-1936
Painted by Luke Fildes (oil on canvas).
King George is depicted wearing the mantle of the Sovereign Head of the Order of St John. The St John breast star is just visible.
HM King Edward VIII (1894-1972)
Prior of Wales 1918-1936, Sovereign Head 1936
Painted by Edward Caruana Dingli (oil on canvas, Museum of the Order of St John).
HM King George VI (1895-1952)
Sovereign Head 1936-1952
Painted by Meredith Frampton, 1929 (oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery).
Painted while still Duke of York, he is wearing the neck badge of a Bailiff Grand Cross (awarded 1929). Due to the disruptions of World War II, no portrait was commissioned of King George VI in the robes of the Order of St John
HM Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022)
Sovereign Head 1952-2022
The painting on the left is by Leonard Boden, 1968 (oil on canvas, Museum of the Order of St John).
In both images, the Queen is wearing the insignia and mantle of the Sovereign Head of the Order of St John.
HM King Charles III (1948- )
Sovereign Head 2022-current
In this photograph, King Charles is depicted in full regalia, but without any of the insignia of the Order of St John.