The Royal and Merciful Society of Bearers of Medals and Awards of Belgium (Koninklijke en Menslievende Vereniging van Dragers van Eretekens en Medailles van Belgie) was founded in 1865. The headquarters of the Royal Society is located in

Heule Heule is a submunicipality of the city of Kortrijk in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The first notion of this settlement date of the year 1111. Heule has a surface of 1169h and has a population of 10,503 (2009). Surrounding villages of H ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Patronage

The Royal Society is under the protection of the King of the Belgians. * State Coat of Arms of Belgium

Royal Protector: Philippe - King of the Belgians.

Members

The Royal and Merciful Society of the Bearer of Medals and Awards of Belgium elects as members, persons who were honoured for their acts of either courage, self-sacrifice or charity. Members must have an excellent reputation and their awards for the above acts must be, by the Belgian State or any other State which has been recognized by the Belgian State. Moreover, there are associate members that support the objectives of the Royal Association.

Structure

The Royal and Merciful Society of the Bearer of Medals and Awards of Belgium is governed by a national board of directors. At the top is the protector, Philippe - King of the Belgians. The Honorary Chairman is the Mayor of Brussels. The Society is made up of the Belgian provinces and the external Regions.

Provinces

Kingdom of Belgium: ** Province Brabant ** Province East Flanders ** Province West Flanders ** Province Hainaut ** Province Namur ** Province Liège ** Province Limburg

External Regions

Region of Germany * Flag of France

Region of France * Flag of the Netherlands

Region of the Netherlands

Medals and awards

The Royal and Merciful Society of the Bearer of Medals and Awards of Belgium gives two kinds of awards: The Order of the Belgian Cross (Orde van het belgisch Kruis) and Medals of Gratitude (Erkentelijkheidmedailles). An Honorary Cross for humanitarian merit is also awarded.Official Website, Medals and Awards
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Honorary Cross

* Honorary Cross, Awarded for outstanding humanitarian work and merit.

Order of the Belgian Cross

The Order is awarded in five classes which are, in descending order of precedence: *

Grand Cross Grand Cross is the highest class in many orders, and manifested in its insignia. Exceptionally, the highest class may be referred to as Grand Cordon or equivalent. In other cases, there may exist a rank even higher than Grand Cross, e.g. Grand ...

(GKBK) *

Grand Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fr ...

(GOBK) *

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

(CBK) *

Officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

(OBK) *

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

(RBK) The Order is exclusively reserved for full members and is awarded for outstanding social achievements.

Medals of Gratitude

There are two kinds of Medals of Gratitude: The "Palms of Mercy" (Palmen van Menslievenheid) and the "Medal of the Belgian Crown" (Medal van Gekroont Belgie).