Royal Order of the Seraphim

The Royal Order of the Seraphim Kungliga Serafimerorden
Star of the order
Awarded by Monarch of Sweden
Type	Single grade order of merit
Motto	Iesus Hominum Salvator
Day	28 April
Eligibility	Until 1975: Swedish and foreign persons Since 1975: Foreign heads of state or other foreigners of equivalent rank, and Since 1995: Members of the Swedish Royal Family
Awarded for	services to Sweden
Status	Currently constituted
Grand Master	King Carl XVI Gustaf
Chancellor	Ingemar Eliasson
Grades	Knight/Member/Member of the Cloth (general: RSerafO/LSerafO, Swedish:RoKavKMO/LoKavKMO)
Statistics
Established	1748
First induction	1748
Precedence
Next (higher)	None (highest)
Next (lower)	Order of the Sword
Ribbon bar of the Royal Order of the Seraphim

The Royal Order of the Seraphim (Swedish: Kungliga Serafimerorden) (Seraphim being a category of Angels) is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Polar Star. Since the reorganization of the orders in 1975, the Order of the Seraphim is only awarded to foreign heads of state and members of the royal family (the last non-royal Swedish holder was Sten Rudholm). The order has only one class with the dignity of Knight (Member for women and Member of the Cloth for clergymen), and is the foremost order of Sweden.

The three above-mentioned Orders together with the Order of Vasa form the Orders of His Majesty the King (Swedish Kungl. Maj:ts Orden). A Swedish Knight of the Order of the Seraphim is not referred to as a Knight of the Seraphim, but rather as a Knight and Commander of the Orders of His Majesty the King (Swedish: Riddare och Kommendör av Kunglig Majestäts Orden). This form is used because the Swedish word orden is an old plural form which indicates that a knight has to be a Commander Grand Cross or 1st Class of at least one of the other Swedish Orders. Foreign Knights are for the greater part Knights of the Order of the Seraphim. A Knight of the Order may be styled "Herr" + surname, which used to be the formal style for Swedish secular Knights (untitled high-ranking noblemen) appointed by the Swedish King, a practice that ceased in the 17th Century. Until 1975 the sons of the Swedish monarch received a miniature version of the order at their baptism. As part of a reform on orders and decorations, a law was passed in 1974 restricting the award of orders to foreign citizens. This law was revised in 1995 to allow members of the Swedish Royal Family to receive the order. That year, on her 18th birthday, Crown Princess Victoria became a member of the order. Prince Carl Philip likewise became a knight of the order on his 18th birthday. The tradition of awarding the order upon the baptism of a member of the royal family returned when Princess Estelle, the first-born of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, received the Order of the Seraphim from her grandfather, King Carl Gustaf at her baptism on May 22, 2012. Princess Leonore, daughter of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill, also received the order at her baptism on June 8, 2014.