Thanks Stefan.
Some Guests are wearing the Collar with the Sash , others only the Collar. What is the way to wear it.
In my very humble opinion, the collar should not be worn with the sash of the same order. King Albert II always wore collars correctly, i.e. either the collar alone (with no sash), or with a sash of a different order.
Having said that, many dignitaries wear both the sash and the collar of the same order simultaneously nowadays, especially presidents of republics, like Signore Mattarella on his recent state visit to Spain (and literally all Latin American presidents I can recall during state visits to Spain). Even King Juan Carlos did it at Prince Felipe's wedding where he wore the sash of the collar of the Order of Charles III with the collar itself of the same order (plus the collar of the Golden Fleece). That was somewhat weird. Note that King Carl Gustaf wore the collars of the Seraphim and of the order of Vasa (I think?) at CP Victoria's wedding with no sash.
In the UK, where all orders of chivalry actually have a collar, the collar is, however, worn only on very special days. Queen Elizabeth II e.g. only wears the Garter collar on Garter Day, or for the state opening of Parliament.
Is the Order of Charles III (jellow) higher as the Order of Isabella la Catolica (light blue)?
The President of Italy and his Daughter received the Yellow one and Carla Sarkozy the pale blue Sash. It is confused to me !
It is indeed a little confusing. Normally, on a first state visit, the King of Spain awards the collar of the order of Isabella the Catholic (yellow sash) to presidents and the grand cross of the same order to first ladies. On a second state visit, they may be both upgraded to the order of Charles III (light blue sash). European monarchs and queens/princes consort, however, normally get the order of Charles III (respectively with and without collar) right on their first state visit; sometimes the same distinction is also accorded to some presidents like the French president for example (?). European monarchs subsequently normally receive the order of the Golden Fleece, but that honor is extended
only to the king or reigning queen, not to consorts.
The current official order of precedence in Spain no longer accords precedence based on nobility and knighthood as in the UK (only the King and the Queen consort, the Prince or Princess of Asturias and his/her consort, and the Infantes or Infantas have official precedence), but the precedence of the orders is in practice implied by the seniority (year of order creation) and the conditions for award (e.g. how exclusive the order or a grade therein is). Based on those implicit criteria, the hierarchy for the orders that are relevant to the current discussion is (with year of creation under parenthesis):
1. Order of the Golden Fleece (1430)
2. Order of Charles III (1771)
3. Order of Isabella the Catholic (1815)
4. Order of Civil Merit (1926)