Order of the Elephant

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Order of the Elephant Elefantordenen
Collar of the Order of the Elephant
Awarded by 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	Frederik X
Grades	Knight (Danish: Ridder, abbr.: R.E.)
Statistics
First induction	1693 Christian V of Denmark
Last induction	2026 Tô Lâm
Precedence
Next (higher)	None (Highest)
Next (lower)	Order of the Dannebrog
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.

History

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 the howdah, a carriage that is mounted in the back of an elephant. This type of carriage was mostly utilized in the Indian subcontinent, and the Danish adopted this design since they ruled parts of India as part of their small colonial empire. The unfamiliar Indian howdah has been replaced in this instance by a familiar European castle, although the Indian rider has been kept on the elephant.

Composition

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 be admitted. The most recent member of the order who was neither a current nor 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.

Insignia and habits

• The collar of the order is of gold. It consists of alternating elephants and towers. On the cover of the elephants there is a D which stands for Dania, mediaeval Latin for Denmark. According to the statutes of the order, the collar is usually worn on New Year's Day (during the Danish monarch's New Year's Court) and on major occasions (coronations or jubilees) only.
• The badge of the order is an elephant made of white-enamelled gold with blue housings. It is about 5 cm high. On its back the elephant is bearing a watch tower of pink enameled masonry encircled by a row of small table cut diamonds at the bottom with another row just below the crenellation at the top. In front of the tower and behind the elephant's head (which has a diamond set in its forehead and smaller diamonds for its eyes) a colorfully attired and turbaned Moor mahout is sitting, holding a golden rod; on the right side of the elephant there is a cross of five large table cut diamonds and on the left side the elephant bears the crowned monogram of the monarch reigning when it was made. At the top of the tower is a large enameled gold ring from which the badge can be hung from the collar or tied to the sash of the Order. There are about 72 elephants at the chancery of the Order or in circulation. It is estimated that together with an unknown number of elephants in museums around the world, the total number of the elephants is about a hundred.
• The star of the order is an eight-pointed silver star with smooth rays. At its center there is a red enameled disc with a white cross, surrounded by a laurel wreath in silver. It is worn on the left side of the chest.
• The sash of the order is of light-blue silk moiré and 10 cm wide for men 6 cm wide for women. It is placed on the left shoulder with the elephant resting against the right hip. The collar is not worn when the sash is used.
• The order originally had a distinctive habit worn by the knights on very solemn occasions consisting of a white doublet, white breeches, white stockings and white shoes, over which was worn a red mantle with a white lining and with the star of the order embroidered in silver on left side. Over this red mantle was worn a short white shoulder cape with a standing collar, embroidered with scattering of numerous gold flames, upon which was worn the collar of the order (the habit was always worn with the collar of the order, never its ribbon). The habit also had a black hat with a plume of white and red ostrich feathers. This habit was almost identical to that worn by the knights of the Order of the Dannebrog.

Upon the death of a Knight of the Order of the Elephant, the insignia of the order must be returned. There are a few exceptions known.

• Paris, Chancellery museum – collar on display
• Sash and badge of Dwight Eisenhower, on display at his presidential library in the US.

Current knights and officers

Current Knights of the Elephant listed by date of appointment

Name	Date appointed	Notes
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark	20 April 1947	Royal family Then Princess Margrethe of Denmark
The Dowager Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg		Royal family Then Princess Benedikte of Denmark
Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes		Royal family Then Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark
The Emperor Emeritus of Japan	8 August 1953	Then Crown Prince
Count Ingolf of Rosenborg	17 February 1961	Royal family Then Prince Ingolf of Denmark
Empress Farah of Iran	3 May 1963	Then Empress consort
The King of Sweden	12 January 1965	Then Crown Prince
The Prince Hitachi	28 September 1965
King Albert II of Belgium	18 June 1968	Then Prince of Liège
Prince Joachim of Denmark	14 January 1972	Royal family
Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson	6 January 1973	Then Princess Christina of Sweden
Queen Sonja of Norway	12 February 1973	Then Crown Princess
The King of the United Kingdom	30 April 1974	Then Prince of Wales
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands	29 October 1975	Former Queen
King Juan Carlos I of Spain	17 March 1980	Then King
Queen Sofía of Spain		Then Queen consort Born Princess of Greece and Denmark
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir	25 February 1981	President of Iceland (–)
António Ramalho Eanes	25 June 1984	President of Portugal (–)
The Queen of Sweden	3 September 1985
The King of Norway	20 July 1991	Then Crown Prince
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway	13 October 1992
Lech Wałęsa	5 July 1993	President of Poland (–)
Queen Paola of Belgium	16 May 1995	Then Queen consort
The Crown Princess of Sweden	14 July 1995
The Countess of Frederiksborg	17 November 1995	Formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson	18 November 1996	President of Iceland (–)
Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece	14 January 1997	Also Prince of Denmark
Guntis Ulmanis	18 March 1997	President of Latvia (1993–1999)
The King of the Netherlands	31 January 1998	Then Prince of Orange
Queen Noor Al Hussein of Jordan	27 April 1998	Then Queen consort
The Empress Emerita of Japan	2 June 1998	Then Empress consort
Fernando Henrique Cardoso	3 May 1999	President of Brazil (1995–2002)
Emil Constantinescu	23 May 2000	President of Romania (–)
Petar Stoyanov	17 October 2000	President of Bulgaria (1997–2002)
The King of Thailand	7 February 2001	Then Crown Prince
Tarja Halonen	3 April 2001	President of Finland (2000–2012)
Milan Kučan	10 October 2001	President of Slovenia (–)
The King of the Belgians	28 May 2002	Then Duke of Brabant
Grand Duke Henri Luxembourg	20 October 2003	Then Grand Duke
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa Luxembourg		Then Grand Duchess
The Queen of Denmark	9 May 2004	Royal family Then Mary Donaldson
The Emperor of Japan	16 November 2004	Then Crown Prince
Georgi Parvanov	29 March 2006	President of Bulgaria (2002–2012)
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva	12 September 2007	President of Brazil (2003–2010; 2023–present)
Felipe Calderón Hinojosa	18 February 2008	President of Mexico (–)
Princess Marie of Denmark	24 May 2008	Royal family
Lee Myung-bak	11 May 2011	President of South Korea (–)
Ivan Gašparovič	23 October 2012	President of Slovakia (–)
Sauli Niinistö	4 April 2013	President of Finland (2012–2024)
The Queen of Norway	17 May 2014	Then Crown Princess
Ivo Josipović	21 October 2014	President of Croatia (2010–2015)
The Queen of the Netherlands	17 March 2015
Enrique Peña Nieto	13 April 2016	President of Mexico (–)
Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson	24 January 2017	President of Iceland (–)
The Queen of the Belgians	28 March 2017
Emmanuel Macron	28 August 2018	President of France (2017–present)
Frank-Walter Steinmeier	10 November 2021	President of Germany (2017–present)
The Crown Princess of Norway	21 January 2022	Then Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway
The Crown Prince of Denmark	15 October 2023	Royal family Then Prince Christian of Denmark
The King of Spain	6 November 2023
The Queen of Spain
Princess Isabella of Denmark	14 January 2024	Royal family
Prince Vincent of Denmark
Princess Josephine of Denmark
Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland	6 May 2024
Halla Tómasdóttir	8 October 2024	President of Iceland (2024–present)
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi	6 December 2024	President of Egypt (2014–present)
Alexander Stubb	4 March 2025	President of Finland (2024–present)
Edgars Rinkēvičs	28 October 2025	President of Latvia (2023–present)
Alar Karis	27 January 2026	President of Estonia (2021–present)
Gitanas Nausėda	28 January 2026	President of Lithuania (2019–present)
Tô Lâm	19 October 2026	President of Vietnam (2026–present)

Other notable knights

Previous knights have included:

See also

• Elephant and castle symbol
• Order of the Dannebrog

References

Further reading

• Афонасенко И.М. Гербы российских кавалеров в гербовнике датского ордена Слона (Afonasenko, Igor. Coats of Arms of Russian Knights in the "Elefantordenens Våbenbog") / Геральдика – вспомогательная историческая дисциплина: Семинар ГЭ 24 апреля 2019 г. СПб., 2019. 34 стр. ISBN 978-5-93572-852-6.
• Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre, 1987. The Knights of The Crown: The Monarchical Orders of Knighthood in Later Medieval Europe, 1325–1520, Woodbridge, Suffolk (Boydell Press) (revised edition 2000). History and insignia of the original confraternity of Christian I.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Order of the Elephant.

• Statutes of the Order of the Elephant
• Some of the Elephant badges on exhibit at Rosenborg Castle:
  • Order of the Elephant ("Order of the Elephant". Retrieved 17 December 2015.) and Order of the Elephant Star.
  • Order of the Elephant of Frederik II.
  • Order of the Elephant of Christian IV.
  • Order of the Elephant of Christian V, miniature.
  • Order of the Elephant of Frederik VII, miniature.
  • Order of Dannebrog and Order of Dannebrog Star.
  • Ordre de l'Union Parfaite ("Ordre de l'Union Parfaite". Retrieved 17 December 2015.)
• Database over Danish Medals, including the Order of the Elephant