Order of the Crown of Italy Ordine della Corona d'Italia | |
---|---|
Awarded by The Head of the Italian Royal Family | |
Type | Dynastic Order of Knighthood |
Established | 20 February 1868 |
Royal house | House of Savoy |
Eligibility | Military, civilian |
Awarded for | Meritorious Service or Achievement |
Status | Rarely constituted |
Founder | King Victor Emmanuel II |
Grand Master | Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples |
Chairman of the Council | Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice |
Grades | Knight Grand Cross Grand Officer Commander Officer Knight |
Precedence | |
Next (higher) | Royal Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus |
Next (lower) | Royal Civil Order of Savoy Royal Military Order of Savoy |
Ribbon bar |
The Order of the Crown of Italy (Italian: Ordine della Corona d'Italia or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861.[1] It was awarded in five degrees for civilian and military merit. Today the Order of the Crown has been replaced by the Order of Merit of Savoy and is still conferred on new knights by the current head of the house of Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples.
The order has been suppressed by law since the foundation of the Republic in 1946. However, Umberto II did not abdicate his position as fons honorum and it remained under his Grand Mastership as a dynastic order. While the continued use of those decorations conferred prior to 1951 is permitted in Italy, the crowns on the ribbons issued before 1946 must be substituted for as many five pointed stars on military uniforms.[2]
Grades
The various degrees of the order, with corresponding ribbons, were as follows:
Ribbon | Class (English) | Class (Italian) | Manner of wear |
---|---|---|---|
Knight Grand Cross | Cavaliere di Gran Croce decorati del Grande Cordone | Badge on sash on right shoulder, plus star on left chest | |
Grand Officer | Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia | Star on left chest | |
Commander | Commendatore dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia | Badge on necklet | |
Officer | Ufficiale dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia | Badge on ribbon with rosette on left chest | |
Knight | Cavaliere dell'Ordine della Corona d'Italia | Badge on ribbon on left chest |
Insignia
Medals | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Kingdom of Italy | ||||
Italian Republic and Savoy House | ||||
Members
Members of the order have included:
- Isaac Artom (1829–1900), Italian writer diplomat, and politician
- Harry Woodburn Blaylock (1878–1928), Canadian lawyer and businessman[3]
- Aaron Bradshaw Jr. (1894–1976), United States Army; World War II, commanded Anti-Aircraft troops of U.S. Fifth Army
- John Buchan (1875–1940), Scottish novelist and diplomat
- Vice Admiral Felice Napoleone Canevaro (1838–1926), Italian admiral and diplomat
- Sydney Wentworth Carroll (1877-1958) Theatrical producer, after production of Napoleon: The Hundred Days written by Mussolini (Yorkshire Evening Post 10/3/1933, p. 10, col. 5; Illustrated london News 30/9/1933, p.34, c2; Daily Herald 13/1/1941, p2, cols 2-3).
- Major-general (United Kingdom) Walter Clutterbuck (1894–1987), British Army; World War II
- Adolf von Deines (1845–1911), Prussian diplomat and General of the Cavalry
- Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), Scottish statesman and Sherlock Holmes author
- Cmdr Sir Thomas Fisher RN, English Naval Officer, Managing Director of Canadian Pacific Steamship Company
- James Whitelaw Hamilton (1860–1932), Scottish artist, member of the Royal Scottish Academy
- William Ernest Powell Giles (1835–1897), Australian explorer, gambler, not always strictly sober.
- Thomas Hanbury (1832–1907), English philanthropist and creator of the Giardini Botanici Hanbury
- Major General James Murray Robert Harrison DSO, CB (1880–1957), Royal Artillery, British Army in recognition of services on Italian-Austrian frontier WW1
- Vice Admiral Jules James (1885–1957) Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Mediterranean at the close of WW II, decorated by the last King of Italy, Umberto II during his 34-day reign.
- Rear Admiral Katō Hiroharu (Grand Officer in 1920), Imperial Japanese Navy[4]
- Major General Clayton P. Kerr (1900–1977), United States Army general, World War II member of the Allied Mission to the Italian Army
- Edward King, Viscount Kingsborough, in recognition of his work in researching and compiling his 'Antiquities of Mexico'.
- Major General Robert A. McClure (1897–1957), father of U.S. Army Special Operations, Director of Information and Media Control at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) during World War II
- Brigadier General Billy Mitchell (1879–1936), United States Army air power advocate
- Cesare Nava (1861–1933), Italian politician
- Charles Poletti (1903–2002), American lawyer and politician, Governor of New York, and colonel in the United States Army; served in Italy during World War II
- John Rylands (1801–1888), English entrepreneur and philanthropist
- Alfred T. Smith (1874–1939), U.S. Army brigadier general[5]
- Alexander William Stewart (1868–1933), a naval architect, engineer and inventor
- Rear Admiral Yates Stirling Jr. (1872–1948), United States Navy sea power advocate
- General Sebastiano Visconti Prasca (1883–1961), Italian Army
- Rear Admiral Ellery W. Stone (1894–1981), United States Navy Radio pioneer
- William Verbeck[6]
- Giacomo Vuxani (1886–1964), Italian politician and patriot
- Brigadier General George H. Weems, United States Army; World War II
- Major General Arthur R. Wilson (1894–1956), United States Army; World War II, commanded Coastal Base Section in Naples
Non-order merit awards
- Gold cross - Silver cross
Grand Masters of the order[7]
Additional information
According to International Commission for Orders of Chivalry the Order of Merit is also known as the Merit of Savoy
Under their section: chivalric institutions founded by the head of a formerly reigning dynasty, the Order has been defined as the following since their 2016 register:[8]
ITALY
House of Savoy (Catholic)
Merit of Savoy
Founded: H.R.H. Crown Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont and Prince of Naples 23 January 1988.
Ribbon: Blue with a broad white centre stripe.
Grand Master: H.R.H. Crown Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont and Prince of Naples (Vittorio Emanuele IV, Titular King of Italy) (b. 1937).
Order of Merit of Savoy Recipients (amongst others)
As of the year 2000 there are/were 1453 recipients of the Order of Merit.[9]
- Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince of Venice, Knight Grand Cross
- Clotilde Courau, Princess of Venice
- Princess Vittoria of Savoy, Princess of Carignano Marchioness of Ivrea
- Princess Luisa of Savoy
- Marina Doria, Princess of Naples and Duchess of Savoy
- Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma
- Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy
- Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy
- Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia
- Prince Michael of Yugoslavia
- Prince Sergius of Yugoslavia
- Princess Helen of Yugoslavia
- Nicholas, Crown Prince of Montenegro
- Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro
- Mariano Hugo, Prince of Windisch-Graetz Knight Grand Cross
- Prince Don Alessandro Jacopo Boncompagni Ludovisi Altemps Knight Grand Cross
- Marquess Paolo Thaon di Revel Vandini Knight Grand Cross
- Baron Enrico Sanjust dei Baroni di Teulada Knight Grand Cross
- Prof. Alberto Bochicchio Knight Grand Cross
- Count Carlo Buffa dei Conti di Perrero Knight Grand Cross
- Count Giuseppe Rizzani Knight Grand Cross
- Rudy Giuliani Knight Grand Cross
- Giovanni Cheli Knight Grand Cross
- Duke Giancarlo Melzi d'Eril Knight Grand Cross
- Count Andrea Boezio Bertinotti Alliata
- Andrea Rivoira Knight Grand Cross
- Antonio d’Amelio Knight Grand Cross
- Franca Sciaraffia Dame Grand Cross
- Nicolas Gagnebin Knight Grand Cross
- Theo Niederhauser Knight Grand Cross
- Monsignor Paolo de Nicolò Knight Grand Cross
- Alberto Di Maria
- Dame Zina Losapio
- Alessandro Santini
- Gino Lupini
- Marco Bocchio
- Alberico Guerzoni
- Alberto Coluccia
- Simone Balestrini
- Giovanni Cheli
See also
References
- ↑ Founded by Royal Decree No. 4251 of 20 February 1868, renewed by Royal Decree No. 4850 of 24 January 1869, Royal Magistral Decree of 17 November 1907 and Royal Decree No. 276 of 16 March 1911
- ↑ Ordini Cavallereschi del Regno d'Italia Archived 2006-05-07 at the Wayback Machine Corpo della Nobiltà Italiana (retrieved 10 September 2009)
- ↑ Tremblay, Yves (2005). "BAYLOCK, HARRY WOODBURN". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 15. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
- ↑ "Orders and Decorations, 1920" (in Japanese). p. 2.
- ↑ "Brig. Gen. A. T. Smith Dies After Illness of Four Days". The Evening Star. Washington, DC. November 28, 1939. p. 2 – via GenealogyBank.com.
- ↑ "WILLIAM VERBECK, EDUCATOR, IS DEAD; General and Former Commander of New York National Guard, Succumbs at 69.HEADED MANLIUS SCHOOL In 1927 He Was Made Commander of Crown of Italy--Received Citizenship by Legislative Act". The New York Times. 1930-08-25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
- ↑ "Bulmer-Thomas, Prof. Victor Gerald, (born 23 March 1948), Director, Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), 2001–06; Emeritus Professor, London University, since 1998", Who's Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u9377, retrieved 2022-09-20
- ↑ "REGISTERS". International Commission for Orders of Chivalry (in Italian). Retrieved 2022-09-22.
- ↑ "Zoppi, Count Vittorio, (23 Feb. 1898–6 May 1967), Knight Grand Cross Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u48869, retrieved 2022-09-20