Previously, in my quest to fill the interwebs with even more useless information, we went over some of the basics of the insignia associated with orders of chivalry, and how they work in a royal's own country. Now we're adding another layer of complexity to the game: what happens when countries get together and different sashes start flying around. How does it all work? And most importantly: how are you supposed to know what to wear?
When are foreign orders received? While royals may receive membership in another country's order as part of a special event or an official visit, state visits are where the real collecting happens. Gifts are always traded during a state visit, and orders are commonly included.
Orders given as gifts from Luxembourg (left) and Norway (right) during the 2011 state visit from Luxembourg to Norway
How many foreign orders do royals have? That's completely dependent on the number of occasions they've been involved in. Prince William has no foreign orders yet, as he has never played an official part in a state visit. On the other hand, Crown Princess Victoria (only 5 years older than William) has quite the collection, because she's been supporting her parents on incoming and outgoing state visits for years.
Victoria's foreign orders to date, per Wikipedia (all relevant Wiki disclaimers apply...). Click to enlarge.
Who gets which orders? Just as different countries have different policies regarding how they hand these out at home, they all handle gifts of orders differently. Let's revisit the example from above, the 2010 state visit from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands to Norway. Beatrix is wearing the distinctive red sash of Norway's Order of St.Olav, which is the order King Harald awards to fellow royals. He often gives the order to sovereigns, heirs, and consorts of both and sometimes more minor family members as well. Beatrix is very generous with her orders, but she gives out different ones depending on a person's position.
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| Sovereigns attending Garter Day in 2002 for the Jubilee |
How do you know which order to wear? Sadly, you can't just pick whichever sash goes best with your dress. When you are visiting another country or another country is visiting you, you want to honor that country by wearing the highest order that country has given you. If you don't have any orders from that country, you proceed with the rules from part 1, and wear the highest honor you have from your own country. Shall we have an example? Yes, we shall:
Left to Right: Queen Paola and King Albert of the Belgians, Princess Máxima and Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Princess Letizia and Prince Felipe of Spain, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg
All of these kids are shown attending Crown Princess Victoria's wedding. The Swedes give their highest honor, the Order of the Seraphim, to sovereigns (Albert, who is wearing the collar rather than the sash), sovereign consorts (Paola), and heirs (Willem-Alexander, Frederik, Felipe). They give their second highest honor, the Order of the Polar Star, to others (Máxima, Mary, Mette-Marit). Those that don't have any Swedish orders (Letizia, Guillaume) wore their own.
But why wouldn't you have the right country's order at an event? Why don't Letizia and Guillaume have Swedish orders? See above: if a royal hasn't participated in a state visit with said country, then they likely have no orders to show. Though it may be entertaining to imagine that snubbing is involved somehow, the likely explanation is that they just haven't had a chance to collect that certain order yet, or they're restricted by order-giving policies and won't get an order in their current positions.
The foreign orders take precedence, as you can see on King Harald on the left there. At Victoria's wedding, he wore the collar of the Order of the Seraphim, which freed him up to wear the riband of the Order of St. Olav from Norway. (When you wear a collar, you either go without a sash - as King Albert did - or you wear a sash from a different order.) He wore stars at his waist from both orders.
What happens if you get it wrong?
Prince Philip showed up for the funeral of King Baudouin I of the Belgians wearing the Order of the Leopard from Zaire instead of the Belgian Order of Leopold. Whoops.
Or perhaps a more likely story: no one figured she'd care. Attempting to find a perfect match to each and every order? Time consuming. Expensive. Probably gets more and more annoying as time rolls on. Though she used to wear colorful dresses, Queen Elizabeth now sticks to mostly white gowns at gala occasions. I suppose at some point, after decades of attempting to match, you just throw in the towel.
And that, friends, ends my digression on orders (unless there's something else about them you'd like to see a post on, of course, you can always let me know). Hopefully that will answer some of the questions; as always, there are many more levels of detail you can dig into with each and every specific order and country. Next time: new topic.
Photos: Aftenposten/vg.no/ANP/Scanpix/Getty Images/Daylife/Zimbio/Corbis
A rainbow of sashes, from (L to R): Jordan, France, Norway, Thailand, South Africa, the United Kingdom (of course), Poland, and Denmark
And that, friends, ends my digression on orders (unless there's something else about them you'd like to see a post on, of course, you can always let me know). Hopefully that will answer some of the questions; as always, there are many more levels of detail you can dig into with each and every specific order and country. Next time: new topic.
Photos: Aftenposten/vg.no/ANP/Scanpix/Getty Images/Daylife/Zimbio/Corbis
