Orders & Sashes


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Sashes

Could anyone explain the sashes that are worn at the more formal occasions? I know that they are colored according to the royal house. Does each function dictate whether or not the royals wear their own colors or the colors of the host family? What is the significance of the side they are worn on? I apologize if this has been answered before, but I have been unable to find it and my curiousity is reaching a zenith!!!;) :)
 
kimebear said:
Could anyone explain the sashes that are worn at the more formal occasions? I know that they are colored according to the royal house. Does each function dictate whether or not the royals wear their own colors or the colors of the host family? What is the significance of the side they are worn on? I apologize if this has been answered before, but I have been unable to find it and my curiousity is reaching a zenith!!!;) :)

The way you wear a sash at a royal function that is not hosted by your royal house is like this: If you have an order/sash from the country that is hosting the event, you wear that order/sash. If you do not have an order/sash from that country, you wear the one you have from your own country.
Each royal family has different coloured sashes for their orders. Denmark has light blue for the Order of the Elephant, Sweden also has light blue for their highest Order, the Order of the Seraphim, Belgium has a purple sash for the Order of Leopold I, Great Britain has a dark blue sash for the Order of the Garter, the Netherlands has a blue and orange sash for their highest order (I think it's the Order of Wilem something?), Norway has a blue, red and white sash for the Order of St. Olav, and Spain has a blue and white sash for the Order of Charles III(?).
The sashes are mainly worn from the (when facing the person) left shoulder down to the right hip. But, if you have the same coloured sash as another country (ie. Denmark & Sweden), then it changes. For example, at the King of Sweden's 60th Birthday celebrations, CP Mary of Denmark wore her Danish sash over her right shoulder connecting at her left hip, because the Swedish royal were wearing their order over their left shoulder down to their right hip. However, if an event was held in Denmark and the Swedish royal family were there, for example CP Frederik & CP Mary's wedding in 2004, Prince Carl Philip & Princess Madeleine (not sure about CP Victoria) of Sweden wore their light blue Swedish sashes over their left shoulder down to their right hip because they were in Denmark.
 
HMQueenElizabethII said:
Here more pics of various Royals wearing sashes but mostly with Queen Elizabeth II:

What royals are with Queen Elizabeth in this picture? I'm not as familiar with some of the older pics of royals (when they were younger).
 
laduchesse said:
What royals are with Queen Elizabeth in this picture? I'm not as familiar with some of the older pics of royals (when they were younger).

The woman on the right looks very much like Paola of Belgium. The tiara she is wearing also looks very much like one of the Belgian tiaras Paola often wears. So, if that is Paola on the right, the man would be Albert?
 
Thank you JessRulz! Finally, a straight answer!:)
 
JessRulz said:
The woman on the right looks very much like Paola of Belgium. The tiara she is wearing also looks very much like one of the Belgian tiaras Paola often wears. So, if that is Paola on the right, the man would be Albert?

You're right, Jess. That is Paola when still a Princess. The gentleman, however, is the late King Baudoin.

Mapper
 
Hereditary Mapmaker said:
You're right, Jess. That is Paola when still a Princess. The gentleman, however, is the late King Baudoin.

Mapper

Okay then :) I have never seen a picture of the late King, so I wouldn't know him even if I magically met him on the street!
 
On the issue of Etiquette, There is a photograph of the Lord High Commissioner of The Church of Scotland (The Lord Mackey) wearing The Sash of The Order of The Thistle and the Star with Morning Suit, Surely he should not be wearing the sash as this is reserved for White Tie and Uniform.

link to photograph:
Extranet - Assembly area
Near the bottom of the page
 
At the king of Norway's 70th birthday, I notice Prince Albert of Monaco wasn't wearing any order/sash at all, not even one from his own country. Does anyone ever make state visits to Monaco and that is why he doesn't have one? I noticed that most other heads of state and prince/sses were wearing the Norwegian sash.
 
acdc1 said:
At the king of Norway's 70th birthday, I notice Prince Albert of Monaco wasn't wearing any order/sash at all, not even one from his own country. Does anyone ever make state visits to Monaco and that is why he doesn't have one? I noticed that most other heads of state and prince/sses were wearing the Norwegian sash.

I don't know why he choose not to wear his own sash. I think he doesn't have the order of St. Olav, bcause both Monaco and Norway Royal never make an official visit to each other. He also didn't wear a sash when he attend King Bumibhol Aduljadey Diamond Jubilee.
 
Wow! There are so many different orders/decorations that royals wear even some heads of state who are not royal. Thanks for the wonderful pictures.
 
Does Prince Albert of Monaco have any sashes from any other countries besides Monaco?
 
I do not think so acdc1 from what I know the only sash that Prince Albert of Monaco has is the Grimadli /Monaco national sash.
 
I looked him up, and he has lots of different orders from places like Panama, El Salvador, etc. He also was given Grand Cross of the Jordanian Renaissance (Nahdah medal) (from www.palais.mc) by King Abdullah II, so I don't know if that can be counted or not. I don't even know if its a sash! But I found that out, so I thought you guys would want to know.
 
The following is a list of HSH Prince Albert II's decoration from www.palais.mc, you can usually bet if its a grand cross it has a sash, though not every time bu 99.9%:

H.S.H. Prince Albert has also been bestowed the following foreign distinctions :
      • Grand Officer of the National Order of the Lion of Senegal, awarded in May 1977 by H.E. Mr. Léopold Sedar Senghor, President of the Republic of Senegal, during his official visit to that country ;
      • Knight Grand Cross of The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, January 27th, 1983
 
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Wow, that is a long list. Don't see him wearing too many though.
 
rchainho said:
was joachim wearing his sash in the wrong place?
When? Any photo?
If it was during Swedish visit than Frederick not Joachim wore the light blue Swedish Order of Seraphim.
 
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kerry said:
Wow, that is a long list. Don't see him wearing too many though.

I agree Prince Albert of Monaco does not wear them hardly.For a while the Only Order I thought he had was Monaco's and no others.
 
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banda_windsor said:
I can't figure what sash is Diana wear in that pic. Is that Japanese?
It's not the Japanese Order of Precious Crown i think. It's in fact one of the Order from the Netherlands when Queen Beatrix paid a State Visit to England in 1982. It could be either the Order of the Crown or the Order of William, i'm unsure, maybe one of our Dutch members can firgue out.:flowers:
 
Don't know if this has been asked before but here goes...Does it matter if the sash is worn draped left or right?

Thanks.:flowers:
 
HMQueenElizabethII said:
It's not the Japanese Order of Precious Crown i think. It's in fact one of the Order from the Netherlands when Queen Beatrix paid a State Visit to England in 1982. It could be either the Order of the Crown or the Order of William, i'm unsure, maybe one of our Dutch members can firgue out.:flowers:

It's the Crown Order. It was bestowed upon Diana during Beatrix's visit to the UK in the 1980s. I believe it was the only order Diana ever received. The Order of William is seldom bestowed, and if it was bestowed upon a royal, it would most likely be a monarch. The Dutch orders are as follows:

The Order of William: orange sash with blue stripes
The Order of the Dutch Lion: blue sash with orange stripes
The Order of Oranje-Nassau: orange sash with white stripes and blue edging
The Order of the Oak Crown: orange and green striped sash (2 orange, 3 green)
The Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau: gold yellow sash with blue edging
The Family Order of Orange: solid orange sash
The Crown Order: orange sash with red, white, and blue stripes

The Order of the Oak Crown and the Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau are also Luxembourg orders.
 
kerry said:
Don't know if this has been asked before but here goes...Does it matter if the sash is worn draped left or right?

Thanks.:flowers:


It does if the sash is meant to be worn a certain way. For example, the Order of the Elephant (Danish) is worn from right shoulder to left hip. The Order of the Garter (British) is worn from left shoulder to right hip.
 
bct88 said:
The Order of William: orange sash with blue stripes
The Order of the Dutch Lion: blue sash with orange stripes
The Order of Oranje-Nassau: orange sash with white stripes and blue edging
The Order of the Oak Crown: orange and green striped sash (2 orange, 3 green)
The Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau: gold yellow sash with blue edging
The Family Order of Orange: solid orange sash
The Crown Order: orange sash with red, white, and blue stripes
Thanks, bct88.:flowers: But i got a question that as the Order of William is the highest Order, but when at Prince's Day in September for example, the Royals always wear the Order of Dutch Lion. I only see Q.Beatrix wears the Order of William on her Coronation, but the rest even in official photos, she wears the Dutch Lion Order.
 
The Order of William is only awarded for bravery in battle and it's very rarely awarded. The Grand Cross could also be awarded as an exceptional presentation to heads of state which had displayed feats of loyalty to The Netherlands during wartime. As the Queen is the "head" of the military, it would make sense that she wore it during her installation as Queen, but not during any other times.

The Order of the Dutch Lion is awarded to the Royal Family, foreign heads of state and a select group of prime ministers.
 
Sister Morphine said:
It does if the sash is meant to be worn a certain way. For example, the Order of the Elephant (Danish) is worn from right shoulder to left hip. The Order of the Garter (British) is worn from left shoulder to right hip.

Thanks, Sister Morphine. I had no idea. I think more slashes are worn from the wearer's right shoulder to left rip. At least that is what I have seen in pics.
 
To confuse the "which way?" issue further, the same sash can be worn across the shoulder, under the arm, and sort of half-way between armpit and waist. Even at some formal functions you can see see identical sashes being worn at different angles, especially with the men in their dinner jackets.

Here's an example, from King Harald's 70th birthday earlier this year: Sashes.
 
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