Order of the Indian Empire

Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire
The insignia of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire
Awarded by the British monarch
Type	Order
Motto	IMPERATRICIS AUSPICIIS
Awarded for	At the monarch's pleasure
Status	Not awarded since 1947 Dormant order since 2010
Sovereign	Queen Elizabeth II
Grades	Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) Knight Commander (KCIE) Companion (CIE)
Statistics
Established	1878–2010
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of St Michael and St George
Next (lower)	Royal Victorian Order
ribbon bar of the Order of the Indian Empire

The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:

No appointments have been made since 1947, the year of the Partition of India. With the death of the last surviving knight, the Maharaja of Dhrangadhra, the order became dormant in 2010.

The motto of the Order is Imperatricis auspiciis, (Latin for "Under the auspices of the Empress"), a reference to Queen Victoria, the first Empress of India. The Order is the junior British order of chivalry associated with the British Indian Empire; the senior one is The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India.

The British founded the Order in 1878 to reward British and "native" officials who served in India. The Order originally had only one class (Companion), but expanded to comprise two classes in 1887. The British authorities intended the Order of the Indian Empire as a less exclusive version of the Order of the Star of India (founded in 1861); consequently, many more appointments were made to the former than to the latter.

On 15 February 1887, the Order of the Indian Empire formally became "The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire" and was divided into two classes: Knights Commander and Companions, with the following first Knights Commander:

However, on 21 June 1887, a further proclamation regarding the Order was made; the Order was expanded from two classes to three – Knight Grand Commander, Knight Commander and Companion. Seven Knights Grand Commander were created, namely:

Appointments to both Orders ceased after 14 August 1947. The Orders have never been formally abolished, and as of 2012^[update] Queen Elizabeth II remains the Sovereign of the Orders. Today, there are no living members of the order.

The fictional characters Purun Dass (invented by Rudyard Kipling) and Harry Paget Flashman (invented by George MacDonald Fraser) each held a KCIE; Kipling's engineer Findlayson in The Day's Work (1908) aspires to the CIE.