Order of the Norwegian Lion

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Star of the Order of the Norwegian lion.

The Order of the Norwegian Lion was a Norwegian order of knighthood established by King Oscar II of Norway on 21 January 1904, "in memory of the glorious events associated with Norway’s venerable Coat of Arms".^[1]

The order was established as an equivalent in rank to the Swedish Order of the Seraphim as knights of the Norwegian Order of St. Olav ranked below the knights of the Seraphim in the shared Swedo-Norwegian Royal court. However the expansion of the Norwegian honours system received mixed reactions amongst Norwegian politicians.

The Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905 before any Norwegian knights had been appointed and King Haakon VII of Norway chose not to appoint any new knights. King Haakon VII formally repealed the order in a Court resolution on 11 March 1952. The last living knight was Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden who died in 1973.