Order of the Norwegian Lion

Order of the Norwegian Lion Den norske løve
Star of the Order of the Norwegian Lion
Type	Single grade Order of knighthood
Country	Norway
Ribbon
Status	repealed by Court resolution 11 March 1952
Statistics
Last induction	10 September 1904
Total inductees	11
Precedence
Next (higher)	none
Next (lower)	Order of St. Olav
Related	Order of the Seraphim
Badge of the order

The Order of the Norwegian Lion was a Norwegian order of knighthood established by King Oscar II on 21 January 1904, "in memory of the glorious events associated with Norway’s venerable Coat of Arms".^[1]

The order was established as an equivalent in rank to the Swedish Order of the Seraphim as knights of the Norwegian Order of St. Olav ranked below the knights of the Seraphim in the shared Swedish-Norwegian royal court. However the expansion of the Norwegian honours system received mixed reactions amongst Norwegian politicians.

The Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905 before any Norwegian knights had been appointed and King Haakon VII chose not to appoint any new knights. He formally repealed the order in a Court resolution on 11 March 1952. The last living knight was King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden who died in 1973.

King Oscar II with the ribbon and star of the order

Complete list of knights

No	Name	Known for	Year Appointed
1	The King	Royal Family	21 January 1904
2	The Crown Prince
3	The Duke of Skåne
4	The Duke of Södermanland
5	The Duke of Västmanland
6	The Duke of Västergötland
7	The Duke of Närke

Honorary Knights

No	Name	Known for	Year Appointed
1	Wilhelm II	German Emperor	27 January 1904
2	Franz Joseph I	Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary	5 April 1904
3	Christian IX	King of Denmark	10 September 1904
4	Émile Loubet	President of France	1 December 1904

King Haakon VII formally became Grand Master on 18 November 1905, but never wore any of the order's insignias.

References