[15] The Arctic Star is a retrospective award, announced in late 2012, nearly seven decades after the end of the Second World War.

It was formally approved by the Queen for award to those who served on the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War, and production began in early 2013.

[5] The institution of the medal, along with the Bomber Command Clasp, was the end result of a 16-year-long campaign by Commander Eddie Grenfell, Lieutenant Commander Dick Dykes and Merchant Navy veteran Jock Dempster, who stressed that service in the arctic convoys north of the Arctic Circle was entirely different from that in the Atlantic, for which the Atlantic Star had been awarded, with different aims and different conditions which had been described by Winston Churchill as "the worst journey in the world".

The medal was awarded for any length of operational service north of the Arctic Circle by members of the British Armed Forces and the Merchant Navy.

The three colours represent the forces which were involved in the campaign, light blue for the Air Forces, dark blue for the Navy and red for the Merchant Navy, while the central white band, edged in black, represents the Arctic.

[18] The first Arctic Stars were presented to forty World War Two veterans on 19 March 2013, in London.

[17][23][24] As at 19 July 2018, the Ministry of Defence had issued 18,637 Arctic Star medals to eligible veterans on a self-nomination basis.

[25] On 28 September 2014, Håkon Nilsen, who served as torpedo commander on HNoMS Stord and took part in 20 Murmansk convoys as well as the Normandy landings, was the first and only Norwegian war veteran to be awarded the Arctic Star posthumously.