June 12, 2009 – by Mark A. Kellner, News Editor, Adventist World
The first Seventh-day Adventist pastor to serve as governor -general of Jamaica is now a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Sir Patrick Linton Allen, ON, DC, the immediate past president of the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventists, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on June 12 in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace.
Allen became Jamaica's sixth governor-general since independence on February 26, 2009, shortly after stepping down as union president. He was elected president of the West Indies Union in 2000, and began his pastoral service in the church in 1981, after a decade of working for the Jamaican government.
The order is “awarded to men and women of high office, or who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country,” according to the official Web site of the British monarchy. Originally intended for those serving in the Ionian Islands and Malta, the order expanded to officials in the Mediterranean.
“Towards the end of the nineteenth century, due to the expansion of the British Empire, the Order was then extended to those who had given distinguished service in the Dominions and Colonies, as well as foreign affairs generally,” the monarchy Web site indicates. “Today the Order consists of the Sovereign, a Grand Master (currently The Duke of Kent), and includes three classes: 125 Knights and Dames Grand Cross (GCMG), 375 Knights and Dames Commander (KCMG and DCMG), and 1750 Companions (CMG).”
Sir Patrick, as he shall henceforth be known, is a Knight of the Grand Cross; his wife is now called Lady Patricia. In an exclusive interview with Adventist World magazine, Sir Patrick said that while he missed church work, “I am sure and confident that this is what the Lord wants me to do now.”
Sir Patrick said, “As much as I miss it, I am aware that my service is in a broader scope. … Where I work [now], I have a vast and comprehensive universe in the nation.”
Sir Patrick is neither the first Adventist governor-general nor the first to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Those twin designations went to Sir James Carlisle, a lay member from Antigua, who served as governor -general of that nation from 1993 to 2007. Sir James's investiture into the same Order of St. Michael and St. George came in 1994, also at Buckingham Palace.
