The Royal Order of the Lion (french: Ordre Royal du Lion; nl, Koninklijke orde van de Leeuw) was established by King

Leopold II of Belgium * german: link=no, Leopold Ludwig Philipp Maria Viktor , house = Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , father = Leopold I of Belgium , mother = Louise of Orléans , birth_date = , birth_place = Brussels, Belgium , death_date = ...

on 9 April 1891, in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State, and was awarded for services to the Congo and its ruler that did not deserve the award of the

Order of the African Star The Order of the African Star ( nl, Orde van de Afrikaanse Ster; french: Ordre de l'Étoile africaine) was established by Leopold II of Belgium on 30 December 1888, in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State, and was awarded for services t ...

, and were not necessarily performed from within

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

. The order was incorporated into the Belgian honours system following the annexation of the Congo Free State by Belgium in 1908. The motto of the order is ''Travail et progrès'' ("Labour and progress"). The King of the Belgians is its Grand Master, with the order awarded by

Royal Decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...

. Following the independence of Congo-Léopoldville in 1960, the order is no longer current, although the wording of its statutes permitted awards after this, for example for services rendered before independence.

Classes

The Royal Order of the Lion has five classes and three medals: * Grand Cross, who wears the badge on a sash on the right shoulder, plus the plaque on the left chest; * Grand Officer, who wears only the plaque on the left chest; * Commander, who wears the badge on a necklet; * Officer, who wears the badge on a ribbon with rosette on the left chest; * Knight, who wears the badge on a ribbon on the left chest; * Gold Medal, who wears the medal on the left chest; * Silver Medal, who wears the medal on the left chest; * Bronze Medal, who wears the medal on the left chest.

Insignia

The badge of the order is a white enamel Rupert cross with a perimeter channel of blue enamel, with the angles in-filled with filigree back to back letter "C"s for "Congo". The central disc depicts the crowned Belgian lion on a blue enamel background surrounded by a silver ring with the motto of the Congo . This again is surrounded by a scalloped channel of blue enamel. Reverse, similar to the obverse but with a central disc of red enamel with the crowned royal monogram "L/S/L" superimposed. Suspension is by means of a pivoting royal crown and ring. The plaque (or star)—for Grand Cross—is a faceted silver eight-pointed star, or—for Grand Officer—a faceted silver Maltese Cross with silver rays between the arms. The central disc is the same as that of the badge. The medal is circular in gold, silver and bronze versions, with a suspension in the form of a royal crown with two

pendilia Pendilia (singular pendilium; from Latin ''pendulus'', hanging) or pendoulia (the Greek equivalent), are pendants or dangling ornaments hanging from a piece of metalwork such as a crown, votive crown, crux gemmata, or kamelaukion, and are a featu ...

and a ribbon ring. The obverse shows a finely ribbed central area with bead surround, with a royal lion superimposed. The surrounding circlet carries the motto of the Belgian Congo: (work and progress) – the later issues are bilingual including the Dutch in the lower half of the circlet. The reverse is a stylised 'double L' crowned Leopold II monogram within a palm wreath. The ribbon of the order is amaranth purple, with narrow pale yellow edge stripes bordered with pale blue, a combination of the ribbons of the Order of Leopold and the Order of the African Star. When awarded in war time, the ribbon of the order may be adorned with a silver or gold palm. The

ribbon bar A medal ribbon, service ribbon or ribbon bar is a small ribbon, mounted on a small metal bar equipped with an attaching device, which is generally issued for wear in place of a medal when it is not appropriate to wear the actual medal. Each cou ...

is worn on the semi-formal dress uniform.

Ribbon bars

Award conditions

The Royal Order of the Lion was awarded for services to Congo and its ruler that did not deserve the award of the

and were not necessarily performed from within the Congo. In particular, it was awarded for long distinguished service in the Belgian Congo. As with the

, the Royal Order of the Lion is currently administered by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but was originally administered by the Ministry of the Colonies.

References

Sources

* Royal Decree of 26 March 1953 Creating Palms for the Order of the African Star and the Royal Order of the Lion when Awarded in War Time (''Moniteur Belge'' of 14 April 1953) * Borné A.C., ''Distinctions honorifiques de la Belgique, 1830-1985'' (Bruxelles: 1985) * * * Van Hoorebeke P., ''175 Ans de l'Ordre de Léopold et les Ordres Nationaux Belges'' (MRA: 2007)

External links

Royal Order of the Lion

{{Authority control 1891 establishments in the Congo Free State Awards established in 1891 Colonial orders of chivalry Orders, decorations, and medals of Belgium Lion, Royal Order of the