Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav

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The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav (Norwegian: Den Kongelige Norske St. Olavs Orden; or Sanct Olafs Orden, the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry that was instituted by King Oscar I of Norway and Sweden on August 21, 1847, as a distinctly Norwegian order. It is named after King Olav II, known for posterity as St. Olav. Nobility was abolished in Norway in 1821. Just before the union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, the order of the Norwegian Lion was instituted in 1904 by King Oscar II, but it was not awarded by his successor Haakon VII. The order of St. Olav thus became the kingdom's only order of chivalry for the next 80 years. The Grand Master of the order is the reigning monarch of Norway. It is awarded to individuals as a reward for remarkable accomplishments on behalf of the father country and humanity. Since 1985, the order has only been conferred upon Norwegian citizens, though foreign heads of state and royals are awarded the order as a matter of courtesy.

The reigning monarch awards the order upon the recommendation of a six-member commission, consisting of a chancellor, vice chancellor, the court treasurer, and one representative from the southern, central, and northern parts of Norway. The prime minister nominates the members of the commission, and the monarch approves them. Nominations for the award are directed at the commission through the county mayor.

The order is divided into five classes and may be awarded for either civilian or military contributions, the Collar is awarded as a separate distinction of the Grand Cross to those recipients deemed exceptionally worthy, in descending order of distinction:

• Grand Cross with Collar of St. Olav - awarded to heads of state as a courtesy and in rare cases to individuals for merit; wears the badge on a collar (chain), plus the star on the left chest. If the collar is not worn the badge may be worn on a sash on the right shoulder;
• Grand Cross of St. Olav - awarded to heads of state as a courtesy and in rare cases to individuals for merit; wears the badge on a sash on the right shoulder, plus the star on the left chest;
• Commander with Star - wears the badge on a necklet, plus the star on the left chest;
• Commander - wears the badge on a necklet;
• Knight, First Class - wears the badge on a ribbon on the left chest;
• Knight - wears the badge on a ribbon on the left chest.

Recipients are expected to return the insignia upon advancement to a higher level of the order, or upon their death. Since it was instituted, the order has been awarded approximately 5,000 times. The insignia are produced in Norway by craftsmen.

The Norwegian king also awards the St. Olav Medal in gold and silver for "activities for the benefit of society," but these do not confer upon the recipient membership in an order.

Contents 1 Insignia 2 Ranking 3 Current holders of the Grand Cross 4 External links

[edit] Insignia

The collar of the Order is in gold, with six enamelled and crowned monograms "O" (for Olav), six enamelled and crowned coat-of-arms of Norway, and 12 gold crosses bottony each flanked by two axes with silver blades and golden shafts (The latter element is also featured in the coat of arms of the Church of Norway).

The badge of the Order is a white enamelled Maltese Cross, in silver for the knight class and in gilt of the higher classes; crowned monograms "O" (for Olav) appear between the arms of the cross. The obverse central disc is red with the golden Norwegian lion; the reverse disc bears the motto "Justice and Truth" in Norwegian; both discs are surrounded by a white-blue-white ring. The cross is topped by a crown; military awards have crossed swords between the crown and the cross.

The star of the Order for the Grand Cross is an eight-pointed silver star with faceted rays, bearing the obverse of the badge of the Order (minus the crown on the top).

The star for Commander with Star is a silver faceted Maltese Cross, with gilt crowned monograms "O" (for Olav) between the arms of the cross. The central disc is red with the golden Norwegian lion, surrounded by a white-blue-white ring.

The ribbon of the Order is red with white-blue-white edge stripes.

[edit] Ranking

In the Order of precedence used at the royal court of Norway, bearers of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav with collar are ranked 15 in the Order of precedence directly after The Lady Chamberlain and generals and directly before recipients of the War Cross with sword. Bearers of the Grand Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav are ranked 16.

The medal is ranked third in the general ranking of Norwegian orders and medals for use when wearing more than one medal.

[edit] Current holders of the Grand Cross

This list contains 89 holders of the Grand Cross, 21 of which have also been awarded the Collar and gives the year of their appointment. The list is collated alphabetically by last name, those recipients not possessing a last name, such as royalty and most Icelanders are collated by first name. 6 of the listed are not heads of states or royals, these are marked by names in bold. Before the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit was created in 1985, the Order of St Olav was awarded to members of a foreign delegation during state visits. Many holders of the grand cross who are not Heads of state are not listed here.

This list was last updated on 28 March 2008.

Country	Name	Title, Position	Grand Cross with Collar	Grand Cross	Year of appointment
Austria	Heinz Fischer	President		Y	2007
Belgium	Albert II	King	Y		1964
Belgium	Mathilde	Crown Princess		Y	2003
Belgium	Paola	Queen		Y	1997
Belgium	Philippe	Crown Prince		Y	2003
Brazil	Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	President		Y	2003
Bulgaria	Georgi Parvanov	President		Y	2006
Denmark	Benedikte	Princess		Y	1974
Denmark	Frederik	Crown Prince		Y	1990
Denmark	Henrik	Prince Consort	Y		1968
Denmark	Joachim	Prince		Y	1991
Denmark	Margrethe II	Queen	Y		1958
Denmark	Mary	Crown Princess		Y	2005
Estonia	Arnold Rüütel	3rd President		Y	2002
Ethiopia	Medferiashwork	former Crown Princess		Y	1956
Finland	Martti Ahtisaari	10th President		Y	1994
Finland	Mauno Koivisto	9th President	Y		1983
Finland	Tarja Halonen	11th President		Y	2000
France	Jacques Chirac	former President		Y	2000
France	Valéry Giscard d'Estaing	former President (when Minister of Finance)		Y	1962
Germany	Roman Herzog	former President		Y	1998
Germany	Horst Köhler	President		Y	2007
Germany	Marianne von Weizsäcker	former first lady		Y	1986
Germany	Richard von Weizsäcker	former President		Y	1986
Greece	Constantine II	former King	Y	Y	1964, 1962
Greece	Constantinos Stephanopoulos	former President		Y	2004
Hungary	Árpád Göncz	former President		Y	1999
Hungary	Ferenc Mádl	former President		Y	2002
Iran	Farah Pahlavi	former Empress		Y	1965
Iceland	Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson	President		Y	1998
Iceland	Vigdís Finnbogadóttir	4th President	Y		1982
Italy	Carlo Azeglio Ciampi	former President		Y	2001
Japan	Akihito	Emperor	Y	Y	2001, 1953
Japan	Masako	Crown Princess		Y	2001
Japan	Michiko	Empress		Y	2001
Japan	Naruhito	Crown Prince		Y	2001
Japan	Tomohito of Mikasa	Princess		Y	2001
Jordan	Abdullah II	King		Y	2000
Jordan	Hassan	Prince (former Crown Prince)		Y	?
Jordan	Rania	Queen		Y	2000
Latvia	Guntis Ulmanis	former President		Y	1998
Latvia	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga	former President		Y	2000
Lithuania	Valdas Adamkus	President		Y	1998
Luxembourg	Henri	Grand Duke		Y	1996
Luxembourg	Jean	Grand Duke	Y		1964
Luxembourg	Maria Teresa	Grand Duchess		Y	1964
Netherlands	Beatrix	Queen	Y		1964
Netherlands	Margriet	Princess		Y	1964
Netherlands	Willem-Alexander	Crown Prince		Y	1996
Norway	Astrid	Princess	Y		1956
Norway	Kjell Magne Bondevik	former Prime Minister		Y	2004
Norway	Lars Petter Forberg	Master of the Royal Household		Y	2004
Norway	Haakon	Crown Prince	Y		1991
Norway	Knut Magne Hagen	former secretary to the King		Y	2000
Norway	Harald V	King	Y Grand Master		1955, 1991
Norway	Kaare Langlete	former Master of the Royal Household		Y	1993
Norway	Jørgen Hårek Kosmo	former President of the Norwegian Parliament		Y	2005
Norway	Märtha Louise	Princess	Y		1989
Norway	Mette-Marit	Crown Princess		Y	2001
Norway	Ragnhild	Princess		Y	1982
Norway	Carsten Smith	former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway		Y	2003
Norway	Sonja	Queen	Y		1972
Poland	Aleksander Kwaśniewski	former President		Y	1996
Poland	Lech Wałęsa	former President		Y	1995
Portugal	António Ramalho Eanes	17th President	Y		1978
Portugal	Jorge Sampaio	former president		Y	2004
Romania	Emil Constantinescu	former President		Y	1999
South Africa	Nelson Mandela	former President		Y	1998
Spain	Cristina	Princess		Y	1995
Spain	Elena	Princess		Y	1995
Spain	Felipe	Crown Prince		Y	1995
Spain	Juan Carlos I	King	Y		1982
Spain	Sofía	Queen		Y	1982
Sweden	Carl XVI Gustaf	King	Y		1974
Sweden	Carl Philip	Prince		Y	2005
Sweden	Christina	Princess		Y	1992
Sweden	Désirée	Princess		Y	1992
Sweden	Lilian	Princess		Y	1992
Sweden	Madeleine	Princess		Y	2005
Sweden	Silvia	Queen		Y	1982
Sweden	Victoria	Crown Princess		Y	1995
Thailand	Bhumibol Adulyadej	King	Y		1960
Thailand	Sirikit	Queen		Y	1965
United Kingdom	Andrew	Prince		Y	1988
United Kingdom	Charles	Crown Prince	Y		1978
United Kingdom	Edward	Prince		Y	1988
United Kingdom	Elizabeth II	Queen	Y		1955
United Kingdom	Philip	Prince Consort	Y		1952
United Kingdom	Richard	Prince		Y	1973

[edit] External links

• Official website on the order (Norwegian)
• Unofficial website on The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav (In English with translations to French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Spanish, Dutch, Russian, Chinese and Japanese)
• The Collection of Henrik Revens Website features orders and medals of Norway as well as other Nordic countries.