The origins of the highest order of Denmark – the Order of the Elephant – go back to the secular orders of knighthood founded in the 15th century. The legend has it that its creation is connected to the society of the Virgin that had existed already under Danish King Canute IV (1182-1202). The Order of the Elephant and the decoration of its insignia has to do with the coronation of Frederick II in 1559. The figurine of the golden elephant with a turret on its back, worn on a chain, became the new badge of the order. The elephant as an emblem of Denmark, and the origin of the order could be explained through the legend, which tells about Danish knights that participated in the crusade and their victory over Saracens with war-elephants.  According to Christian mythology of the Middle Ages, elephant symbolized intelligence, strength, purity, and Jesus Christ himself. The depiction of an elephant with a turret on its back meant the inviolacy of the church, supported by faith.

There are two badges and a star of the Order of the Elephant in the collection of the Armoury Chamber. One of the badges is unique thanks to the preserved monogram of King Frederick VII, who ruled from 1848 to 1863. Similar badges without distinctive marks are kept in the collections of State Hermitage and State Historical Museums.

As famous as the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Golden Fleece (L'Ordre de la Toison d'or) was established in 1429 by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy.

Starting from 1701 till our days, more than 1200 badges were awarded in Spain, including 16 badges granted to the subjects of the Russian Empire. The Armoury Chamber collection keeps the Spanish badge of the Order with the ribbon of Emperor Nicholas II and the collar and badge of the Order which must have belonged to Nicholas II.

The Royal Order of Noble Ladies of Queen Maria Luisa was established on 19 March 1792, by Carlos IV, in honour of his wife Maria Luisa Teresa of Bourbon. St Ferdinand – the King of Castile, who died in 1252 and was later canonised – was chosen as the patron saint of the Order. According to the first Statutes of the Order, only Catholic women could become its members, but later this rule was not observed. Before 1931, 1293 dames were awarded the Order.  

According to legend, the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George was established in 317 by the Roman Emperor Constantine.

It should be noted that the Order followed the traditions of medieval religious and chivalric societies, accepting into its ranks only Catholics of noble origin. However, Ferdinand I allowed deviations from these rules by accepting several British and a number of Russian subjects as well as Emperors Paul I, Alexander I, Nicholas I and Alexander II.

The Order of Saint Januarius was established on 3 July 1738 by King Charles III (1716-1788) of Spain, Naples (as Charles VII) and Sicily (as Charles V) to commemorate his marriage with Maria Amalia of Saxony (1724-1760). The Order had one class. It was named for the holy martyr Bishop Januarius, the patron saint of Naples, who lived in the third century and met a violent death during the persecution of Christians under the reign of Emperor Diocletianus. Starting from Paul I, all Russian emperors were awarded the Order.

Established by Amadeus VI (1334-1383), Count of Savoy, in 1362, the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation is one of the oldest orders in Europe. It is also known as the Order of the Collar because originally its only insignia was a gold collar comprising of Savoy Knots or Love Knots. The transformation of the Order of the Collar into the Order of the Annunciation occurred in 1518 when Duke Charles III (1486-1553) suspended a medallion bearing a representation of the visit of Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary on the collar of the Order.

When the Kingdom of Italy was created in 1861, the Order of the Annunciation became the highest award of the kingdom.  All Russian emperors, starting from Alexander I, were presented with this order.

The Second Mexican Empire was proclaimed in 1863 as a result of an intervention undertaken a year earlier by Britain, France and Spain. Archduke Maximillian I of Austria was elected Emperor of Mexico and reigned until 1867. In 1865, he established the Order of the Mexican Eagle and the women’s Order of St Charles, which were shortly afterwards bestowed upon the Russian imperial couple.   

The Military Order of William (1815-present) established on 30 April 1815 by King William I of the Netherlands (1772-1843) has four classes: Knight Grand Cross, Commander, Officer, Knight. Emperors Alexander I, Alexander II, Alexander III were awarded the Order and Emperor Nicholas I used to wear the Order in a medal-ribbon brooch all the time.

The Order of the Netherlands Lion was established on 20 September 1815 by King William I of the Netherlands in three classes: Knight Grand Cross, Commander and Knight. The Order also has a medal of honour. Grand Prince Nikolay Pavlovich (future Emperor Nicholas I) was presented with the Order. All subsequent Russian emperors were also awarded the Order.

The Order of the White Eagle was established in 1705 by the Elector of Saxony, Frederick Augustus I the Strong, King of Poland from 1697 to 1704, and from 1709 to 1733, under the name of Augustus II (1670-1733).

The Order ceased to exist after the third division of Poland between Austria, Russia and Prussia in 1795. King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (1750-1827), who in 1807 became the head of the newly formed Duchy (Principality) of Warsaw, restored the Order of the White Eagle and declared himself Grand Master. On December I 1815, Emperor Alexander I restored the Order as the highest award of the Kingdom of Poland. On 17 November 1831, after the suppression of the Polish uprising, Nicholas I incorporated the Order into the awards system of the Russian Empire.

The Order of St Stanislaus (1765-1831) was established on 7 May 1765, by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski in honour of the patron saint of Poland St Stanislaus. It consisted of 100 knights, except the foreigners. In 1795, after the third partition of Poland, the Order was abolished.

Virtuti Militari (the Order of Military Merit) was established in May-June 1792 by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski of Poland. It was conferred until the third partition of Poland in 1795. In 1815, Alexander I ranked the Order third in seniority in the Polish honours system. The statute of Virtuti Militari of 1792 defines five classes of the ‘Military Cross’: Grand Cross, Commander’s, Gold Knight’s Cross and two medals – golden (the 4th class) and silver (the 5th class).

The Order of Queen Saint Isabel (1801-1910 ) was established on 4 November 1801 by then Prince Regent, later King John VI (1767-1826). The Order is named after Queen Isabella of Aragon (1271-1336), wife of King Denis of Portugal (1279-1325), who became famous for her piety. Traditionally awarded to foreign princesses for their charitable work.

The Order of Elizabeth was established in 1878, under the primacy of the Order of the Star of Romania, as an award for women with Queen Elizabeth of Romania (1843-1916) as its head. On the obverse, in the centre of the medallion under the crown, is the monogram of the queen: 3E (Sigmaringen Elizabeth), and the motto of the order: Alinare si mangaere (Calm and Consolation). The Cross was awarded to women who took part in the hostilities of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878.

Cross of the Order of Elizabeth

Belonged to Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Emperor Alexander II

1877–1878 
Silver, moire, silver-gilt threads; stamping, mounting, weaving
Came from the Chapter of Russian Orders in 1917-1923. 

The Romanovs became related with the Serbian Orthodox dynasty of the Karageorgievich when Prince John Constantinovich, the son of Grand Prince Constantine Constantinovich, married the daughter of King Peter I of Serbia at Peterhof in 1911.

The Royal Order of the White Eagle was established on 16 February 1883 by King Milan I, in commemoration of the proclamation confirming that the Principality of Serbia would become a Kingdom on 22 February 1882. It was awarded ‘for serving the King, the Royal Dynasty and the State’ and had five classes.

The Order of the Star of Karageorge was established on 1 January 1904, by King Peter I Karageorgievich, in memory of the centenary of the Serbian uprising of 1804 under the leadership of George Petrovich (Kara-George). The Karageorgievich dynasty had recently come to power in Serbia, after the 1903 coup. The Order was awarded for military and civilian merit and had four classes as well as a Cross of Merit.

The Order of the Red Cross (1876) was established by the Serbian Red Cross Society. It was awarded to servicemen and civilians for evacuating the wounded from the battlefields in the war with Turkey, as well as for charitable activities.

The Order of the Royal House of Chakri was established by King Rama V of Siam on 21 September 1884, in connection with the centenary of the Chakri dynasty. The Order had one class and was awarded to outstanding descendants of the founder of the dynasty, King Rama I and their spouses, as well as representatives of foreign royal houses. The Order was bestowed on emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II, grand princes Mikhail Alexandrovich and Boris Vladimirovich.

The Order of Smanieh was established on 9 December 1861, by Sultan Abdülaziz (1830-1876). Originally, it had three classes, in 1867a fourth class with diamonds was added. It was intended as a reward for service to the Ottoman Empire. The first class of the Order of Osmanieh was given only to those who had already received the first class of the Order of Medjidie.

Grand Prince Nicholay Alexandrovish was granted the Order of Osmanieh on 1 September 1884.

The Order of Charity (Compassion) or Şefkatwas an order for women, established by Sultan Abdul-Hamid II (1842-1918) in September 1878, to honour the activities of the Turkish Charity Foundation, founded in September 1877 on the initiative of Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906). As a granddaughter of a banker, she was well-known for her charitable activities. The Foundation assisted civilian refugees of all nationalities during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The Order had three classes, with the first two sometimes awarded with diamonds.

Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna was presented with the Order of Charity I Class in 1913.

The Order of the Holy Spirit was established on 31 December 1578 by King Henry III of France (1551-1589). The motto of the order was DUCE ET AUSPICE (Directs and Protects). The king’s sons were invested into the Order of the Holy Spirit at birth, princes of royal blood upon reaching the age of sixteen. Louis XVIII continued to award it during his exile. The Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit automatically became the knights of the most ancient order of France – the Order of St Michael. From Paul I, emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I, grand princes Konstantin Pavlovich and Mikhail Pavlovich were granted the Order of the Holy Spirit.

The history of the royal Order of St Lazarus and Our Lady of Mount Carmel goes back to the beginning of the 17th century. In 1607, King Henry IV established the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel as an order of royal bodyguards with the motto: Dieu et mon Roi (God and my King). On 31 October 1608, it was united with the surviving part of the ancient Order of St Lazarus, known from the 12th century for their hospitals for leprosery patients. In 1793, the order was abolished during the French Revolution. Following the Restoration it was revived for a while along with other royal orders.

The Order of the Legion of Honour was established by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) as the first European order conferred without prerequisites for the recipient’s social standing. Structurally it was divided into cohorts, each of which represented one of the French territories. On 15 July 1804, the first distribution of 5000 badges of the Order took place in the church Dome des Invalides, after Napoleon had been announced the emperor. The Order consisted of five classes, divided into two categories: the first one – Dignitaries - the Knight Grand Cross or Grand Sash or Grand Badge and Senior Officers; the second one – Grades: Commanders, Officers, Knights. On several occasions, numerous changes were made to the insignia. This was associated with the change of dynasties (1815-1830, 1830-1848), the 2nd Respublic (1848-1851), the presidency of Napoleon (1851-1852), the 2nd Empire (1852-1870) and the 3rd Respublic (1870-1940).

The Order of the Legion of Honour was granted to Russian emperors Alexander I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Tsesarevich Alexey Nikolaevich was also presented with this Order.

The Royal Order of the Seraphim was intended ‘in reward for genius, scholarship, valour and bravery’. The King awarded it to monarchs of foreign states ‘as a sign of friendship and respect’ and ‘to Swedes who provided a significant service to the community and were worthy to take the highest positions in the state’. The Order of the Seraphim has only one class.

The Order of the Rising Sun was established in 1875. The first Japanese order had six classes and two lowest for awarding junior officers, common soldiers and minor officials. The first class included the Star, Badge and Sash. The Order of the Rising Sun was granted to Alexander III and Nicholas II.

The Order of the Rising Sun with Paulownia Flowers, Grand Cordon, was one step higher than the Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon. It was awarded to princes – members of the Japanese imperial family, as well as representatives of foreign sovereign houses. The Order was one of the highest Japanese awards, and it was granted only to those who had already been awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. The Order of the Sacred Treasure was established in 1888 and had eight classes. It was granted for the years of employment and ‘exceptional service for the state’. The badges of the Order were decorated with signs of mirror and precious stones that reproduce two out of the three imperial regalia – treasures of Japan: mirror and jasper pendants. The Order was quite often awarded to foreigners for contribution to the cultural and social life of Japan.

It would be logical to assume that Nicholas II was awarded all the orders mentioned above, and his spouse Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna – with the Order of the Precious Crown. This would make a connection between the imperial family and the corresponding Japanese insignia from the Moscow Kremlin collection.