*** Welcome to piglix ***

Knight of the Elephant

Order of the Elephant
Elefantordenen
Badge of the Order of the Elephant (heraldry).svg
Badge of the Order of the Elephant.
Awarded by
Royal coat of arms of Denmark.svg
Sovereign of Denmark
Type Chivalric order in one class
Motto Magnanimi Pretium
(Latin: The prize of greatness)
Awarded for At the Monarch's pleasure
Status Currently constituted
Sovereign Sovereign of Denmark
Grades R.E.(Ridder af Elefantordenen)
Statistics
First induction 1768 Denmark Frederick VI of Denmark
Last induction 2017 Belgium Queen Mathilde, Queen Consort of Belgium
Precedence
Next (higher) None (Highest)
Next (lower) Order of the Dannebrog
Orderelefant ribbon.png
Order of the Elephant ribbon

The Order of the Elephant (Danish: Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in 1849, is now almost exclusively used to honour royalty and heads of state.

A Danish religious confraternity called the Fellowship of the Mother of God, limited to about fifty members of the Danish aristocracy, was founded during the reign of Christian I during the 15th century. The badge of the confraternity showed the Virgin Mary holding her Son within a crescent moon and surrounded with the rays of the sun, and was hung from a collar of links in the form of elephants much like the present collar of the Order. After the Reformation in 1536 the confraternity died out, but a badge in the form of an elephant with his profile on its right side was still awarded by Frederick II. This latter badge may have been inspired by the badge of office of the chaplain of the confraternity which is known to have been in the form of an elephant. The order was instituted in its current form on 1 December 1693 by King Christian V as having only one class consisting of only 30 noble knights in addition to the Grand Master (i.e., the king) and his sons. The statutes of the order were amended in 1958 by a Royal Ordinance so that both men and women could be members of the order.

The elephant and castle design derives from an elephant carrying a howdah, the familiar castle replacing the unfamiliar howdah, and finds use elsewhere in European iconography, as discussed at howdah.

The Danish monarch is the head of the order. The members of the royal family are members of the order, and foreign heads of state are also inducted. In very exceptional circumstances a commoner may also admitted. The most recent member of the order who was neither a current or former head of state nor royal was Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, a leading industrialist and philanthropist.

The order of the Elephant has one class: Knight of the Order of the Elephant (Ridder af Elefantordenen, usually abbreviated as R.E. in letters et cetera). Knights of the order are granted a place in the 1st Class of the Danish order of precedence.


...
Wikipedia

...