Prince Joachim to take over Prince Henrik’s Job

It has been announced that on the 1st October Prince Joachim will take over as Chancellor of the Order of the Dannebrog and the Order of the Elephant from the Prince Consort, Prince Henrik. This means that Prince Joachim shall be responsible for overseeing the administrative side of the orders and for the signing of the orders’ certificates.

Prince Joachim will, according to working secretary Henning Fode, be able to carry out much of the work from Schackenborg, but will of course be required in Copenhagen from time to time.

The Order of the Dannebrog is a “means of honouring and rewarding the faithful servants of the modern Danish state for meritorious civil or military service, for a particular contribution to the arts, sciences or business life or for those working for Danish interests” and was established after a 1660 move to break out of the absolutism of the Danish aristocracy.

The unusually named Order of the Elephant is Denmark’s highest order, founded in 1693 by King Christian V and amended in 1958 so that both men and women could become members of the order. The order, headed by the Danish monarch, is worn by the members of the royal family and can be granted to foreign heads of state and, in some circumstances, to an ordinary ‘commoner’. Currently, the only commoner in the order is philanthropist Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller. Other notable knights and former knights include the Emperor of Japan, the King of Sweden, Nelson Mandela and Nicolae Ceauşescu, who is notable as the only knight to have had to leave the order.

For more information, please see this thread.

Filed under Denmark
Tagged Order of the Dannebrog, Order of the Elephant, Orders, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Prince Joachim of Denmark.

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