Order of Carol I


The Order of Carol I was the highest ranking of the Romanian honours of the Kingdom of Romania until the abolition of the monarchy in 1947. It was instituted on 10 May 1906 by King Carol I to celebrate the Ruby Jubilee of 40 years of his reign.
During its time as a national order, it was widely used to reward members of the Romanian royal family, Romanian Prime Ministers, Romanian politicians, foreign monarchs and heads of state, selected consorts and heirs, and other people thought to be worthy of receiving the order by the King of the Romanians.
It is currently a dynastic order of the former Romanian royal family. It is the highest-ranking award among all the decorations of the Romanian Royal House and is administered by its head. There are currently no foreign knights or dames of the order, except for members of the Romanian royal family.

Classes

The order has only the superior classes, each of them with limited numbers:

Collar

The Collar is in Gold and consists of 8 links of the emblems of the Danubian Principalities of The: Principality of Wallachia, Principality of Moldavia, Principality of Oltenia and Principality of Dobruja, 4 emblems on either side of the collar with 2 of the emblems of the House of Hohenzollern between each two Principalities; between each emblem is the monogram of King Carol I. At the back of the collar is the lock which is an Eagle with open wings which suspends in half to wear. At the front of the collar is the Steel Crown of Romania which the badge of the order suspends from.

Badge

On the obverse is the Red Maltese cross on top of the Gold sunray, in the middle of the Maltese Cross is a small Gold monogram of King Carol I.
There are two types of stars of the order: 1st which is for the Grand Cross with Collar/Grand Cross and the 2nd which is for the Grand Officer; both are to worn on the left stomach.
The Sash is pale Blue with Gold edges bearing a narrow Red stripe; at the bottom of the sash is a bow which joins both sides together and where the badge hangs from; It is worn from the right shoulder.

Recipients

Grand Cross with Collar

;Romanian royal family
;Romania
;Foreign
;Romanian Royal Family
;Romania
;Foreign
;Romanian Royal Family
;Romania