Order of the Oak Crown

Order of the Oak Crown Ordre de la couronne de Chêne  (French) Eichenlaubkronenorden  (German) Eechelaafkrounenuerden  (Luxembourgish)
Officer's cross with ribbon of the Order of the Oak Crown
Awarded by Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Type	Chivalric order with five grades
Motto	Je maintiendrai ("I will maintain")
Day	Only awarded on Grand Duke's Official Birthday (23 June) which is also the National Holiday
Eligibility	Eligible to members of government, deputies, state councillors, civil servants, elected representatives and personnel of municipal administrations, key players of the economic, social, cultural or sport sectors as well as to volunteers. Can also be awarded to foreigners.
Awarded for	Luxembourg citizens who performed outstanding civil and military services, as well for distinguished artists who made outstanding achievements.
Status	Currently constituted
Sovereign	HRH Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Chancellor	Xavier Bettel
Grades	Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer, Knight
Former grades	Knight Grand Cross, Knight of the Star, Knight Commander, Knight
Statistics
Established	29 December 1841
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Adolphe of Nassau
Next (lower)	Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Ribbon bar of the order

The Order of the Oak Crown (French: Ordre de la couronne de Chêne, German: Eichenlaubkronenorden, Luxembourgish: Eechelaafkrounenuerden) is an order of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The Order of the Oak Crown was established in 1841 by Grand Duke William II who was also King of the Netherlands. At that time, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands were in personal union which means that both nations had the same person as head of state although being two distinct and independent countries. Although the Order was legally a Luxembourgish decoration, it was often used by William II and his successor, King-Grand Duke William III, as a house order of the Nassau dynasty to reward Dutch subjects, beyond the control of the Dutch government.

William II conferred the order on fewer than 30 recipients. His successor, William III, liked the ability to confer this Order by his sole discretion, and awarded 300 decorations on the day of his coronation alone. In the following years hundreds of additional awards of the Order were made. Indeed, there were so many recipients in the kingdom of the Netherlands itself that the Order was widely (and falsely) regarded as a Dutch decoration.

The Order of the Oak Crown ceased to be awarded to Dutch subjects in 1890, when Queen Wilhelmina, as the only remaining member of the House of Orange-Nassau, succeeded her father as new Queen of the Netherlands. Since the Erneuter Erbverein, the Salic Law-based house-treaty between the two branches of the House of Nassau (the junior branch of Orange-Nassau and the senior branch of Nassau-Weilburg (present-day Luxembourg-Nassau)), did not allow women to succeed to the throne of Luxembourg as long as male heirs of the House of Nassau (in both branches) existed, the throne of Luxembourg went to a German relative of the new Dutch queen, also her maternal great-uncle Adolphe, Duke of Nassau, who became Grand Duke of Luxembourg at age 73. The Order of the Oak Crown remained a solely Luxembourgish decoration; subsequently the Netherlands established the Order of Orange-Nassau instead.