Chancellor Never nominated | ||
Type Order of Merit with five classes and three medals Motto TRAVAIL ET PROGRES -
ARBEID EN VOORUITGANG Awarded for Services to Congo and its ruler Status Still living members,
but no longer awarded since 1962 Sovereign His Majesty King Philippe | ||
The Royal Order of the Lion (French: Ordre Royal du Lion) (Dutch: Orde van de Leeuw) was established by King Leopold II of the Belgians on 9 April 1891, in his capacity as ruler of the Congo Free State, and was awarded for services to Congo and its ruler that did not deserve the award of the Order of the African Star and were not necessarily performed from within the Congo. It was incorporated into the Belgian honours system following the annexation of the Congo Free State by Belgium. The motto of the Order is "Travail et progrès" (French: Labour and progress). The King of the Belgians is its Grand Master. Even though Congo is no longer a Belgian colony, it is still considered to be a Belgian Order.
Contents
The Royal Order of the Lion is awarded by Royal Decree. Following the independence of Congo in 1960, the Royal Order of the Lion is no longer awarded (although it still exists).
Classes
The Royal Order of the Lion has five classes and three medals:
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 "TRAVAIL ET PROGRES". 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 (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 to that of the badge.
The Medal is round in gold, silver and bronze versions, with a suspension in the form of a royal crown with two pendelia 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: Travail et Progrès (work and progress) - the later issues are bilingual including the Dutch Arbeid en Vooruitgang 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. When awarded in war time, the ribbon of the Order may be arorned with a silver of gold palm.
The Ribbon bar of the order is worn on the semi-formal dress uniform.
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 Order of the African Star 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 Order of the African Star, the Royal Order of the Lion is currently administered by the FPS Foreign Affairs, but was originally administered by the Ministry of the Colonies.