Diana's Royal Orders
 

I've read that she had a couple of royal orders, including our Dutch Order of the House of Orange-Nassau. (1982)

Which ones she owned also???

Diana had the family order of the Queen. This is a cameo of Her Majesty surrounded in diamonds, with a diamond and red enamel crown on top mounted on a chartreuse ribbon. Each British Monarch establishes a royal family order when he/she succeeds. The present queen wears the family orders of her father and grandfather. This was a tradition started by George IV in the 1820's and is given to female members of the family at the Queen's discretion. The Duchess of York never received it, but Sophie, Countess of Wessex has it. Sophie wore it to the Royal Wedding in Denmark.

It's called "the Family order of The Queen (King)" because the dynasty itself has no "family order" like some houses.

It's called "the Family order of The Queen (King)" because the dynasty itself has no "family order" like some houses. [/b][/quote]
sorry, used wrong wording--half asleep!

sorry, used wrong wording--half asleep! [/b][/quote]
No problem. I used to call it "The Queen's Family Order" until I saw the correct wording on their official site.

any photos of diana wearing sashes or medals of those orders?

The Family Order doesn't have a sash, it's just a miniature portrait of the Queen, surrounded by diamonds and mounted on a ribbon (which is chartreuse yellow for the Queen), and it's worn on the left.

This page

http://groups.msn.com/RoyaltyDanjel2/gbloversknotw.msnw

has a couple of pictures of her wearing it, although one of the pictures shows her wearing it on the right (the picture must be printed backwards) and another shows her wearing it with the sash of a foreign order.

This is the royal family web page on the Family Order:

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page500.asp

Does anyone know why the Duchess of York never received it?Did Sarah get orders from Europe's other monarchies?

I think Sarah, Duchess of York did receive one, but I don't think that she had many opportunities to wear it.

I think this was the last time Diana wore the Family Order. It was at the state banquet for Sultan Azian Shah of Malaysia in November 2003.

I guess the Family Order was only worn on State occassions? Is that right? I always wondered then, if one way to tell if Diana was on a state visit to another country, was if she wore her Family Order to a banquet. For instance, on her trip to the USA in 1985, I don't think she wore the Family Order, so I assume that was not a state visit. Is that correct, or am I way off on this one?

Photo: Tim Graham

Princess Diana attend banquet in 1992 and she died in 1997 she not wores that dress in USA when she sold her dress in 1997

Sara Boyce

I don't think she wore the Family Order at all after the divorce.

i tell you about Diana wores Family order when she got married in 1981-1992 i think so! or she wores that Family order till divorces final in 1996 im not sure if my rights or mistakes?

Sara Boyce

You are right Sara! I am so sorry to have created confusion. The date the picture was taken was November 11th 1993. :o

I really do wonder why Diana did not get any other royal order but the Dutch one?!? She attended many state visits. Any thoughts on why she did not get but one?

Maybe it's because the other royal families knew the marriage was in trouble from the early days. But I doubt that they'd have thought a divorce was likely, so I'm not sure why they'd be snubbing her.

This is Fascinating information. Thank you so much for it. I wish Majesty would do a special article about the family order. That would be a fun read.
I always wondered what the family order was formally called. So Diana had the Family Order of The Queen and also the Dutch Order of Nassau. I didn't know about the Dutch Order.
I am not surprised to learn that these were her only two orders. She was the working HRH The Princess of Wales for eleven years, still HRH from her separation in 1992 but as a separated wife, and the accumulation of many orders takes many more years than eleven effective years of being a member of a royal family! :rolleyes:

But look at Princess Mary of Denmark, she already has three! She has only been married for Three Years! Was Diana not liked by other royals. I do not mean to say this in a bad way, just wondering why she did not get more orders.

HRH The Princess of Wales with Dutch Order
 

In 1982 it had pleased Her Majesty The Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Etc. to grant the decoration of Dame Grand Cross in the Crown Order of Orange-Nassau to Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales.

See picture

The Crown Order of Orange-Nassau is no State Order but a House Order. This means it is not the State but the very private person of the Sovereign him- or herself who decides on this. In contrary to State Orders, for which a Koninklijk Besluit (Royal Decree) is signed, this Order is issued by Hofbesluit (Royal Command).

Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was created Dame Grand Cross in this House Order, which is meant "to express, to foreigners, the great appreciation felt by Us and Our House".

So this means that it was Queen Beatrix very own and very personal decision to grant this Order to the Princess of Wales.

:flowers:

Diana greets Beatrix

Until Majesty get around to writing that article, you can read all about it - some fascinating stuff - at Wikipedia:

Royal Family Order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia