The Order of St John of Jerusalem (1113 – till now) – is one of the first spiritual orders of knighthood. The creation of “Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John”(Fratres hospitalis sancti Johannis) was announced in the bulla of Pope Paschal II in 1113. 

The only attempt to establish direct relations between the House of Habsburg and the Russian Imperial House was the short-term marriage of  Archduke Joseph of Austria (Palatine of Hungary), brother of Emperor Franz I, and Grand Princess Alexandra Pavlovna, daughter of Emperor Paul I, in 1799-1800. Her brother, Emperor Nicholas I, was awarded the second by value(after the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was bestowed only on the Catholics) Royal Hungarian Order of St Stephen(1764-1918) after his enthronement on 31 January 1826. This Order was also granted to emperors Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. The Order was established on 5 May 1764 by Empress Maria Theresa (1717-1780) on the day, when Archduke Joseph was crowned the Roman King.

The Order was named in memory of the patron Saint of Hungary, King Saint Stephen, as a reward for civil merit.

The Military Order of Maria Teresa was established by Maria Theresa on 13 May 1757 as a reward for military merit regardless of the recipient’s origin or faith. 

Nicholas II was the only Russian Emperor to be presented with Bulgarian Orders. It is therefore highly probable that the insignia of the Order of St Alexander, the National Order of Military Merit and the Royal Order of Saints Cyril aтв Methodius, received by the Armoury Chamber from Gohran in 1963, belonged to him. This assumption is supported by the diamond badge of the Order of Military Merit which, according to the inventory of his possessions, is one of three diamond sets of Bulgarian insignia presented to Nicholas II.

The Order of St Alexander (1881-1944) was established on 25 December 1881 by the Prince of Bulgaria Alexander I of Battenberg in honour of St Alexander Nevsky and Emperor Alexander II, thanks to whom, after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 Bulgaria gained independence.

The National Order of Military Merit(1900-1944) was established by Prince Ferdinand I of Bulgaria in May 1900.

The royal Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius (1909-1944) was established on 18 May 1909, on the Feast Day of Sts Cyril and Methodius – apostles to the Slavs. It was the highest order of Bulgaria with just one class.

One of the first and the most famous courtly orders of knighthood that survived till our days is the Order of the Garter. It was founded in 1348 by English King Edward III.

The Royal Victorian Chain (1902 -  until now) was established in 1902 by Edward VII. It was designed to reward foreign monarchs, princes and heads of state, royal family members and chosen representatives of the society of the highest rank (such as the Archbishop of Canterbury).

The chain refers to thirty examples, produced in 1902 after the establishment of the Royal Victorian Chain and awarded by King Edward VII in 1902-1910 to the members of the royal family, foreign monarchs and representatives of the ruling houses. 13 orders were bestowed in 1902, two – in 1903, and four – in 1904, including Emperor Nicholas II. The bestowal of the Order of the Royal Victorian Chain upon the Russian Emperor was published on 6 September 1904 in the London Gazette. In 2016, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II placed the chain on a long-term loan with the Moscow Kremlin Museums.

Statutes, with Seal, of the Order of the Garter

Belonged to Emperor Nicholas I 

London, 1827
Velvet, moire, silver-gilt thread, paper, wax, silk, ink, cardboard; gilding, gold stamping, weaving, printing, manuscript, glue painting 
Came from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in 2012.

Family ties of the Russian Imperial House with the Royal House of Bavaria were established under Maximilian I Joseph (prince-elector from 1799, King of Bavaria 1806-1825). His second marriage was with Princess Caroline of Baden -  the sister of Empress Elizabeth Alexeevna, wife of Alexander I. From Alexander I, all Russian emperors were awarded the Bavarian Order of St. Hubert.

The patrimonial Order of Knighthood of St Hubert (1444-1918) was established in 1444 by Gerhard V, Duke of Jülich-Berg, in commemoration of the victory of 3 November 1444 (Feast Day of St Hubert, patron of hunting) over Arnold, Duke of Egmond. In 1808, King of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (1756-1825) proclaimed the Order of St Hubert the highest order of the kingdom. According to the Statutes of 1875, the order must have comprised eleven knights from the Royal House of Bavaria, twenty-one foreign knights (sovereigns and princes), forty nine foreign princes and nine foreign dukes or barons.

The Order of St Theresa (1827-1918) -  is the highest female order of Bavaria. It was established on 12 December 1827 by Queen Theresa of Bavaria (1792-1854) for the unmarried, deprived/poor women of noble Bavarian birth (12 women above 10 years old) noted for their mercy and charity. Foreign princesses were also awarded with this order. The motto of the order was: Unser Erdenleben sei Glaube an das Ewige (Let our earthly life be the hope for immortality).  

The House of Baden is one of the oldest sovereign houses of  Germany and has close ties of kinship with the Russian Imperial Family. Princess Albertina Federica of Baden-Durlach, wife of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, was the grandmother of Empress Catherine II of Russia. In 1795, future Alexander I strengthened the ties between the houses by marrying Princess Louise of Baden, who took the name Elizaveta Alexeevna. In 1857, Nicholas I’s son, Grand Prince Mikhail Nikolaevich, married Princess Cecilia Augusta of Baden. Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna was the daughter of Princess Wilhelmine Louise of Baden and Grand Duke Louise II of Hessen-Darmstadt.

Nicholas I became the Knight of the Baden Order of Fidelity and the Order of the Zähringen Lion in 1826 and 1827, respectively. Starting from Alexander I, all Russian emperors were awarded the mentioned orders.

The Order of Fidelity was established on 17 June 1715 by the Margrave of Baden-Durlach, Charles III William (1679-1738) to mark the laying of the foundation stone for his residence at Karlsruhe. 

The Order of the Zähringen Lion was established by Grand Duke Charles I (1786-1818) on 26 December 1812, the name day of his wife Stephanie de Beauharnais (1789-1860), niece of Empress Josephine – Napoleon’s first wife. The Order was named after the dynastic symbol of the Zähringen House, which was established by Count Berthold I of Zähringen in 1056. 

The marriage of Grand Prince Paul Petrovich (future Emperor Paul I) with Princess Sophia(later Empress Maria Fyodorovna) in 1776 laid the foundation for the Russian-Württemberg family ties. In 1816, their daughter, Grand Princess Ekaterina Pavlovna married William I, King of Württemberg, and in 1823, their son, Grand Prince Mikhail Pavlovich, married Princess Charlotte, known in Russia as Grand Princess Elena Pavlovna. In 1846, their granddaughter Olga Nikolaevna, daughter of Nicholas I, married the future King Charles I of Württemberg and in 1874, their granddaughter, Grand Princess Vera Konstantinovna, married Duke Eugene of Württemberg.

The Order of WürttembergCrown (1818-1918) was established on 23 September 1818 by King William I, on the basis of two orders: the Golden Eagle (1702) and Civil Merit (1806). The highest order of the kingdom consisted of three classes: Knight Grand Cross, Commander and Knight. King’s sons were bestowed the badges of Knight Grand Cross at the age of seven, the princes of royal blood – at fourteen. The Order acquired new Statutes on 27 June 1871 from King Charles I. Starting from Alexander I, all Russian monarchs were awarded the Order of WürttembergCrown. Emperor Nicholas I received the highest order of the Württemberg House in 1826.

The Order of Military Merit was established in 1759 by Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg (1729-1793). It was resumed in November 1799 by Duke Frederick I (king from 1805) and received new statutes on 23 September 1806, confirmed by Frederick’s son –  King William – on 23 September 1818. The Order had three classes: Knight Grand Cross, Commander, and Knight.

The Order of Olga was the order for women, established on 27 June 1871, by King Charles I in honour of his wife – Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892), daughter of Nicholas I. It had one class and was intended as a reward for persons of both sexes who distinguished themselves for their charitable deeds and in medical care for wounded soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).      

In 1658, Ernst August, the first Elector of Hanover, married the granddaughter of King James I of Great Britain, Sophia of the Palatinate. At the death of Queen Anne in 1714, the son of Ernst August and Sophia – George Louis – succeeded to the British throne, as George I retaining the title Elector of Hanover. From 1714 to 1837, Hanover was in a personal union with the British crown, which ended with the accession of Queen Victoria to the British throne. Following Salic law, which prevented women's succession, the Queen’s uncle Ernst August succeeded to the Hanoverian throne. In the late 19th century, the Hanoverian and Russian dynastic families were connected with the marriage of Alexander III’s sister-in-law Thyra to the heir of the Kingdom of Hanover. Russian Emperor Nicholas I was awarded the highest orders of Hanover – the Order of St George and the Royal Guelphic Order in 1840. The mentioned orders were also bestowed upon Alexander II and Alexander III.

The Order of St George was established by King Ernst Augustus II (1771-1851) on St George’s Gay – 23 April 1839. This one-class order, the highest award of the Kingdom of Hanover was bestowed only upon members of the royal family and upon foreign sovereign princes and sovereigns.

The Royal Guelphic Order (1815–1837, 1837–1867) was established on 12 August 1815 by the Prince Regent, the future George IV, King of Britain, in the name of his father George III, King of Hanover.

The title of the order originates from the name of the noted ancient lineage of Guelphs (Welfen), which gave birth to the Braunschweig and Hanover dynasties. 

The Grand Duchy of Hesse and Russia had close dynastic ties from the late 18th century, giving Russia two empresses and two grand princesses. The connection began in 1773 with the marriage of Grand Prince Paul Petrovich (later Emperor Paul I) to Princess Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (Grand Princess Natalia Alexeevna). In 1841, the daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse-Darmstadt, Princess Maria (later Empress Maria Alexandrovna), became the wife of Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich (later Emperor Alexander II). In 1844, Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel married the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Princess Alexandra Nikolaevna. In 1844, the daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse, Princess Elizabeth (Grand Princess Elizaveta Fyodorovna), married the son of Alexander II, Grand Prince Sergey Alexandrovich. Ten years later, Princess Elizabeth’s youngest sister, Princess Alix (later Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna) became the wife of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

The Order of Ludwig was established on 25 August 1807 by Grand Duke Louis (1753-1830) as an award for civil and military merit. On 14 September 1831, Grand Duke Louis II confirmed the Order’s statutes, according to which it was divided into five classes: Knight Grand Cross, Commander with Star, Commander of the Honour Cross, Knight First Class, and Knight Second Class. Besides, there were gold and silver medals for different merits, such as for valour, length of service, etc. Russian emperors Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II were awarded the Order of Ludwig. In 1841, during the marriage ceremony with Princess Maria, daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Order was bestowed on Grand Prince Alexander Nikolaevich. Probably, the embroidered Star was left to commemorate this event.

The Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous was established on 1 May 1840 by Grand Duke Ludwig II (1777-1840) in memory of the Landgrave of Hesse, Philip I the Bold or the Magnanimous (1505-1567). Shortly before his death, Philip divided the landgrave between his four sons, one of whom, George I the Pious (1547-1596), became the first Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and founder of the line of the Grand Dukes of Hesse. Initially, the Order had three classes: Knight Grand Cross, Commander with Star, and Knight. Emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II were the Knights of the Grand Cross.  

From the 13th century, the Mecklenburg dynasty was repeatedly divided into different lines. As a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815, the rulers of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz were both elevated to the status of Grand Ducks. The dynasty traditionally supported kinship ties with Denmark -  four Mecklenburg princesses became queens of Denmark, as well as with the Russian Imperial House. Anna Leopoldovna, who, for a few months in 1740 and 1741, was regent of Russia during the minority of her infant son Ivan VI ( 1740-1741), was the daughter of Duke Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Tsarevna Catherine Ioannovna (daughter of Tsar Ivan V, niece of Peter I and elder sister of Empress Anna Ioannovna).

The House Order of the Wendish Crown was established by Grand Dukes Frederick Francis II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1823-1883) and Frederick-William of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1819-1904) on 12 May 1864. The Order had four classes: Knight Grand Cross, Grand Commander, Commander, and Knight. The number of members was proportionally limited for both duchies: 66 – for Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and 32 for Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Along with the Order, there were also gold and silver crosses of merits.

Emperor Alexander II was awarded the Order of the Wendish Crown (Mecklenburg-Schwerin), Emperor Alexander III – both of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Nicholas I might have been awarded the Order of the Wendish Crown (Mecklenburg-Strelitz) same as his father, but it is impossible to establish with certainty to whom the orders, transferred from Gokhran in 1963, belonged as its provenance had been erased.

At the age of eleven (9 January 1879), Grand Prince Nikolay Alexandrovich, with the permission of his grandfather, Alexander II, was presented with the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Order of the Wendish Crown. This was his first foreign award.

The House and Merit Order of Peter Frederick Louis was established by the Duke of Oldenburg, Paul Frederick Augustus (1783-1853) in memory of his father – Duke Peter Frederick Louis  (1755-1829) – who had intended to establish an order to reward subjects of the duchy as well as foreigners for achievements in the fields of science and arts. Until 1860, the Order had four classes: knight Grand Cross, Grand Commander, Commander and Knight. From 1860, the Knight Class was divided into Knight I and II classes and Officers.  

The future Emperor Nicholas II was awarded the House and Merit Order of Duke Peter Frederick Louis in 1881, after his proclamation as the heir to the throne.

Prussia was formed on the basis of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, created in the 12th century, and the Teutonic Order state. In the early 16^th century, Albrecht Hohenzollern was elected Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. In 1525, after he had adopted Lutheranism, he declared the secularization of the Order’s possessions and estates and their transformation into a secular state – the Duchy of Prussia. In 1701, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I granted royal dignity to Elector Frederick III. He became the first King of Prussia under the name of Frederick I.

The ruling dynasty of Prussia – the Hohenzollern – established close ties with many sovereign houses of Europe including Russia. Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, the wife of Nicholas I, was the daughter of King Frederick William III in Prussia.

The Order of the Black Eagle was established on 17 January 1701 by King Frederick in Prussia previously Elector of Brandenburg, to commemorate his elevation to the royal throne as the first King of Prussia. The number of Order’s knights was limited to 30, the candidates aged above thirty must have been the fourth generation of the nobility. The Order accepted civil and military officials in the rank not lower than lieutenant-general. The Order of the Black Eagle was bestowed on all Russian emperors and empresses, starting from Elizaveta Petrovna. After the unification of the German states under the leadership of Prussia in 1871, the Order of the Black Eagle became the highest order of the German Empire.

The Order of Louise was established on 3 August 1815, by Frederick William III in memory of his late wife Princess Louise Augusta Wilhelmina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810) to reward women for their service in the war against Napoleon. In 1865, the Order was divided into two classes. The insignia of the I class were henceforth decorated with crowns. The Order was headed by a chapter of four dames with a queen in the chair.  

The Order of the Rue Crown (1807-1918) was established on 20 July 1807 by Frederick Augustus I (1750-1827), the first King of Saxony, at the suggestion of Napoleon I, who, in December 1806, assisted in elevating the Electorate of Saxony to the status of Kingdom. In gratitude, the first samples of the Order’s insignia had the portrait of the Emperor of the French on the obverse. The Order had one class.

Apart from Emperor Nicholas I, the Order of the Rue Crown was bestowed on Alexander II and Alexander III.