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.