Dynastic orders of knighthood

A dynastic order of knighthood, monarchical order, house order or family order, is a chivalric order under royal patronage, bestowed by the head of a currently or formerly sovereign royal family as legitimate fons honorum. These orders are frequently seen as part of the patrimony of the royal family involved. Unlike military orders, religious orders, and order of merit distributed by sovereign states, dynastic orders were often created to reward service to a monarch or their family. An example of this difference is seen between the Royal Victorian Order, which is a personal gift of the sovereign, thus is a dynastic order, and the Order of the British Empire, which is bestowed by the sovereign on the basis of recommendations by the Prime Minister, and thus a national order.

Dynastic orders are under the exclusive control of a monarch and are bestowed without the advice of the political leadership (prime minister or cabinet). A recent report by the British government mentioned that there is "one remaining exercise that has been identified of the Monarch's truly personal, executive prerogative: that is, the conferment of certain honours that remain within her gift (the Orders of Merit, of the Garter, of the Thistle and the Royal Victorian Order)."

Generally, dynastic or house Orders are granted by the monarch for whatever reason the monarch may deem appropriate whereas other orders, often called Merit Orders, are granted on the recommendation of government officials to recognize individual accomplishments or services to the nation.

The term dynastic order is also used for those orders that continue to be bestowed by former monarchs and their descendants after they have been removed from power. For instance, the website of Duarte Pio de Bragança, a pretender to the throne of Portugal using the title Duke of Braganza, asserts that the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, "being a Dynastic Order of the House of Bragança and not an Order of State, continued to be conferred by the last King Dom Manuel II, in the exile." On the basis of his succession to King Manuel II, Duarte Pio continues to award those orders of the Kingdom of Portugal which were not taken over by the Portuguese Republic.

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