The Order of the Sun of Peru (in Spanish: La Orden El Sol del Peru), formerly known as The Order of the Sun, is the highest award bestowed by the nation of Peru to commend notable civil and military merit. The award is the oldest civilian award in the Americas, first being established in 1821.
The Order was originally instituted on 8 October 1821 by General José de San Martín on reaching Lima to recognize those who had distinguished themselves in the campaign against the Spanish Royalist. It was discontinued four years later, after many grantees started to use the award as a nobility title, similar to the earlier Castile titles awarded by the colonial government. All such nobility titles were abolished by 1828.
The Order was re-established in 1921.
The award consists of the following classes:
Grand Cross with Diamonds
Grand Cross
Grand Officer
Commander
Officer
Knight
Emperor Haile Selassie
Emperor Akihito
Queen Elizabeth ll of the United Kingdom
King Albert II of Belgium
King Juan Carlos I of Spain
King Felipe VI of Spain
King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
King Olav V of Norway
King Haakon VII of Norway
King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Queen Letizia of Spain
Queen Sofía of Spain
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
Infanta Elena of Spain
Infanta Cristina of Spain
Prince Michael of Kent
Takahito, Prince Mikasa
Kiko, Princess Akishino
Fumihito, Prince Akishino
José Mujica
Rafael Correa
Danilo Türk
Charles de Gaulle
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Roberto Dañino
Rosa Campuzano
Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold
Lee Hsien Loong
G.E. Berrios
Ernesto Burzagli
Gerardo Chavez
Juan Diego Flórez
Frank Freyer
Thor Heyerdahl
Dmitry Medvedev
Alexei Kosygin
Ramón Miranda Ampuero
Pat Nixon, 1970
Valentín Paniagua
Maria Reiche
Manuela Sáenz
Haile Selassie
Andrew B. Shea
Yma Sumac
Julio C. Tello
Pablo Grimberg Umansky
Ford O. Rogers
Donald Tusk
Disaku Ikeda
Somchai Wongsawat
Gian Marco Zignago
George Papandreou
Arturo "Zambo" Cavero
The 5th Marquess of Bristol
Plácido Domingo
Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala
Leonid Brezhnev
Paul McCartney
Jose Antonio Meier Espinosa
Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco
Sergey Lavrov
Guillermo Hillcoat
Valentina Tereshkova
Maria Rostworowski