Girdles, Garters, and Grandmasters, OH MY!

Of British Orders of Chivalry, there exists none higher than The Most Noble Order of the Garter, or Order of the Garter for short. While there are over 100,000 members of the Order of the British Empire, such as Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart, The Order of the Garter is restricted to only 24 official members and a few supernumerary members in addition to the Monarch and the Prince of Wales. The monarch alone is able to extend membership, without necessarily needing to consult the British Government, as the case is with the Order of the British Empire. The Order was founded by King Edward III in 1348, presumably to gather a circle of allies to support his bid for the French Crown. Medieval Scholars have also drawn several connections to the girdle portrayed in Sir Gawain and the Green Night. Not only is there a similar eroticism associated with both the garter and the girdle, but one of the purported authors of Sir Gawain, was closely associated with a high-ranking member of the order. In addition, the motto of the order “Honi soit qui mal y pense,” (“Shame upon him who thinks evil upon it,” or “evil to him who evil thinks”) appears in slightly altered form within the poem itself in lines 640 to 655. In any case, rarely do the lines of romantic fiction and reality cross so neatly, that those knowledgeable in history and literature might understand so easily. 

with help from Wikipedia articles "Order of the Garter" and "Order of the British Empire"