Royal Order of Cambodia

The Royal Order of Cambodia (Khmer: គ្រឿងឥស្សរិយយសព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា; French: Ordre royal du Cambodge) was a colonial order of chivalry of French Cambodia, and is still in use as an order of chivalry in the present-day Kingdom of Cambodia.[1]

Royal Order of Cambodia
Star, medal and current Great Ribbon of the Order
Awarded by

King of Cambodia
TypeOrder
Established8 February 1864
1864 – 1955 (Order of the French Protectorate of Cambodia)
1908 – present (as Royal Order of Cambodia)
StatusCurrently constituted
SovereignNorodom Sihamoni
Grades
  • Knight Grand Cross
  • Knight Grand Officer
  • Knight Commander
  • Officer
  • Knight
Precedence
Next (higher)Grand Order of National Merit

Ribbon of the Order

History

Colonialism

In 1845, the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in present-day Thailand) and Nguyễn dynasty (in present-day Vietnam) established a joint protectorate over the Kingdom of Cambodia. With French support, Cambodia gained independence under King Norodom in 1863, but he had to accept the French protectorate of Cambodia and a strong French interference in the administration of his country.

On 8 February 1864, the king founded the Royal Order of Cambodia as an order of merit with five degrees. After 1896, the French government and the kings of Cambodia each granted themselves the Order of Cambodia. The French president was rightly Grand Cross in the Royal Order of Cambodia. The order served to distinguish civilians and soldiers, subjects of the king or strangers, who had made themselves worthy. In 1896, the order was officially taken up in the French system of colonial orders of chivalry.

For French appointments, the recipient had to be at least 29 years old and enter the Order first as a knight, to be promoted to a higher grade after a certain period. Only officers of the Légion d'honneur could become a commander in the Order and only commanders of the Légion d'honneur could be Commanders or Officers of the Order. Apart from decorations for bravery or merit during foreign campaigns, the French colonial orders also required that a certain number of years had to have been spent in the tropics or overseas to be eligible - in this case, three years in Indochina, preferably in Cambodia. From 1933 the Order was also granted for the organization of exhibitions dedicated to Cambodia and sacred events important to the French colonies. None of these rules applied for grants by the King of Cambodia himself.

The colonial and overseas orders were immediately contingent on the French orders and awarded on ministerial orders. Those awarded it not only had to pay for their own registration and qualifications, but also had to buy their own insignia.[2]

Post-colonial

In 1948 France ceased granting the order. Formally it remained a French colonial policy, but it was now only granted by the King of Cambodia. The order has since then been one of the historical orders of France.

On September 1, 1950, the (colonial) French order-system was reformed. The Order of the Star of Anjouan and the Order of the Black Star were formalised as French Overseas Orders. The other three were the "Order of States Associated to the French Union" (French: "Ordre des États de l'Union Française Associés"). In 1955, Cambodia became independent. The order was approved by King Norodom Sihanouk during his government and also granted during his exile in Beijing. The order became dormant in 1975, under the government of Democratic Kampuchea. Following United Nations supported elections in 1993, H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk, was returned to the throne and the Order was reinstituted by Royal Decree No. 1095/01 dated 5 October 1995. This decree was signed by Chea Sim as the King's representative, Norodom Ranariddh, the First Prime Minister and Hun Sen, the Second Prime Minister at the time. A few design changes took place. After the restoration of the Khmer dynasty it remained the highest Cambodian distinction. The original French type crown has been replaced by the Khmer Royal Crown.

Grades

Current Knight Grand Cross
Ribbon during the colonial period (1899-1948)
Cross of the Order of Cambodia until 1948

Since 1948

The five classes of appointment to the Order are, in descending order of precedence:

  1. Maha Sirivaddha (មហាសេរីវឌ្ឍន៍) or Knight Grand Cross
  2. Mahasena (មហាសេនា) or Knight Grand Officer
  3. Dhipadinda (ធិបឌិន្ទ) or Knight Commander
  4. Sena (សេនា) or Knight Officer
  5. Assarariddhi (អស្សឫទ្ធិ) or Knight or Chevalier

Prior to 1948

The five classes of appointment to the Order are, in descending order of precedence:

  1. Maha Sirivaddha (មហាសេរីវឌ្ឍន៍) or Knight Grand Cross
  2. Mahasena (មហាសេនា) or Knight Grand Officer
  3. Dhipadinda (ធិបឌិន្ទ) or Knight Commander
  4. Sena (សេនា) or Knight Officer
  5. Assarariddhi (អស្សឫទ្ធិ) or Knight or Chevalier

Members of all classes of the order are assigned positions in the order of precedence. The highest level of the Knight Grand Cross relates to refinement. Those honored in this way are raised to the personal, non-hereditary status of nobility and henceforth bear the title His or Her Excellence (H.E.). This is prefixed to the full name.[3][4]

Insignia

The medal of the order comes in many different forms, as a slightly elongated silver or gold star surmounted by a Cambodian crown and with an image of the king's crown and coat of arms in gold on a violet blue background and surrounded by a red circle. The reverse of the medal is left rough. To promote the order if it was awarded by the French, the Cambodian crown was replaced with a European one surmounted by a small cross, and in the early years the order was even awarded without any crown.

The central image on the star of the order is the same as the medal, though the crown is missing and the rays are usually smooth. The star is elongated, with the vertical rays longer than the horizontal rays. The regalia of Knights is in silver, whilst those of the higher grades are gold. The medal and star are equally for civilians and soldiers. The ribbon of the order was originally green with a red border, changing in 1899 to white with an orange border (in the same year the French government changed the colours of the ribbons of all five colonial orders), before reverting to the original black ribbon when it became a purely Cambodian order again.

Recipients

Year appointedClassName
1884 Knight Charles Baret
1884 Knight François Deuve
1884 Knight Hypollite Herménégilde Tell
1885 Knight Ernest Deuve
1885 Knight Grand Officer Henri Rieunier
1889 Knight Grand Cross Thành Thái
1895 Knight Officer Nikolai Kolomeitsev
1896 Knight Henri Mordacq
1897 Knight Grand Cross Jean-Baptiste Billot
1898 Knight André Michelin
1901 Knight Léon Breton
1901 Knight Officer Octave Denis Victor Guillonnet
1901 Knight Grand Cross Pakubuwono X
1905 Knight Grand Cross Sisavang Vong[5]
1921 Knight Grand Cross Joseph Joffre
1924 Knight Jean Desbois
1929 Knight Grand Cross Jagatjit Singh
1933 Knight Grand Cross Ibrahim of Johor
1941 Knight Grand Cross Norodom Suramarit
1954 Knight Grand Cross Bhumibol Adulyadej
1956 Knight Grand Cross Josip Broz Tito
1956 Knight Grand Cross Antonín Zápotocký
1956 Knight Grand Cross[6] Ramon Magsaysay
1959 Knight Grand Cross Savang Vatthana
1960 Knight Grand Cross Antonín Novotný
1962 Knight Grand Cross Charles de Gaulle
1962 Knight Grand Cross Putra of Perlis
1965 Knight Grand Cross Kim Il Sung[7]
1992 Knight Grand Cross Norodom Ranariddh
2001 Knight Grand Cross Sok An
2002 Knight Grand Cross Sirajuddin of Perlis
2002 Knight Grand Cross Tuanku Tengku Fauziah
2003 Knight Grand Officer Aun Pornmoniroth
2004 Knight Grand Cross Norodom Sihamoni[8][9]
2004 Knight Grand Cross Norodom Monineath
2004 Knight Grand Cross Kim Jong Il[10]
2005 Knight Commander Kazimierz Duchowski
2006 Knight Grand Cross Norodom Arunrasmy
2006 Knight Grand Cross John Sanderson
2007 Knight Grand Cross Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum
2007 Knight Commander Hor Nambora
2008 Knight Grand Officier Bernard Krisher[11]
2011 Knight Grand Cross Hor Namhong
2013 Knight Grand Cross Kao Kim Hourn
2014 Knight Grand Cross Frank Berman[12]
2018 Knight Grand Cross Song Tao (diplomat)
2020 Knight Grand Cross Oknha Na-Mey Ruy[13]
2022 Knight Grand Cross Tengku Fauziah binti Almarhum Tengku Abdul Rashid
2023 Knight Grand Cross Björn Stenvers[14][15]
2023 Knight Grand Cross Sambath Pol
unknown Knight Grand Cross Emperor Akihito of Japan
unknown Knight Grand Cross Marcel Alessandri
unknown Knight Grand Cross Bảo Long
unknown Knight Grand Cross Bảo Đại
unknown Knight Commander[16] Maryse Bastié
unknown Knight Henri Bellieni[17]
unknown Knight Commander Gustave Besnard
unknown Knight Commander Albert Besson
unknown Knight Grand Cross Urban Jacob Rasmus Børresen[18]
unknown Knight Grand Cross Sarin Chhak
unknown Knight Officer Émile Duboc
unknown Knight Grand Cross Hamengkubuwono VIII
unknown Knight Grand Cross Hassan II of Morocco
unknown Knight Grand Cross Emperor Hirohito of Japan
unknown Knight Grand Cross Jean de Lattre de Tassigny[19]
unknown Knight Grand Cross Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
unknown Knight Grand Cross Leopold II of Belgium
unknown Knight Jean-David Levitte
unknown Knight Grand Cross Manuel Luis Quezon
unknown Knight Officer Auguste Lumière
unknown Knight Grand Cross Raoul Magrin-Vernerey
unknown Knight Grand Cross Hun Manet
unknown Knight François Marjoulet
unknown Knight Grand Officer Boun Oum
unknown Knight Officer Marcel Ribière
unknown Knight Grand Cross Willem Rooseboom
unknown Knight Grand Cross Raoul Salan
unknown Knight Grand Cross Yōhei Sasakawa
unknown Knight Grand Cross Vong Savang
unknown Knight Grand Cross Tea Banh
unknown Knight Grand Cross Jean de Lattre de Tassigny[20]
unknown Knight Officer Mardochée Valabrègue
unknown Knight Officer François Zimeray
unknown Knight Grand Cross Leopold III of Belgium

References

  1. "ODM of Cambodia: Royal Order of Cambodia". www.medals.org.uk.
  2. Sylvester, J. The Orders and Medals of Cambodia and Laos, 1986: pp. 5-8.
  3. Geoffrey Oldham & Brett Delahunt (2004). "Cambodian Decorations of Honor". Milymen Books. ISBN 9780473097998., pp.17-25.
  4. Stair Sainty, G. World Orders of Knighthood and Merit, 2006: pp.953-954.
  5. Boucard, Adolphe (February 2009). Travels of a Naturalist. ISBN 9781103374984. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  6. "Official Month in Review: February 1956". Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. February 1, 1956. Archived from the original on August 25, 2020. Retrieved August 25, 2020. The Prince presented the President with the Grand Croix de l'Ordre Royal du Cambodge.
  7. News from Hsinhua News Agency: Daily Bulletin. London: Xin hua tong xun she. 1 October 1965. p. 53. OCLC 300956682.
  8. "BIOGRAPHY OF HIS MAJESTY KING NORODOM SIHAMONI OF CAMBODIA". Khmer Times. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  9. "King's Biography". Cambodia.gov.kh. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
  10. "Grand Cross Order of the Kingdom of Cambodia". Korea Today. Vol. 726, no. 12. 2016. ISSN 0454-4072.
  11. "Chutzpahdik philanthropist aids Cambodians". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 2008-07-06. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
  12. Sir Frank Berman awarded the Royal Order of Cambodia. University of Oxford (21 April 2014). Retrieved on 30-12-2022.
  13. May Ruoy Receives Royal Medal of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Ras Mei News (5 October 2020). Retrieved on 30-12-2022.
  14. Deputy Prime Minister Chea Sophara for direction 2023 of Tbong Khmum Province. Ministry of Information Cambodian Government (23 March 2023). Retrieved on 24 March 2023.
  15. Recognised with Cambodia's highest honour. Phnom Penh Post (28-3-2023). Retrieved on 28-3-2023.
  16. Jacques Cheymol, Alain Fradet, ibid, p. 80.
  17. Brigitte Caquelin. "Charles Henri GIMEL BELLIENI". Geneanet. Retrieved 28 June 2020..
  18. Amundsen, Otto Delphin. 1947. Den Kongelige norske Sankt Olavs orden 1847-1947. Oslo: Grøndahl & Søn Forlag, p. 73.
  19. FONDATION MARECHAL DE LATTRE. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  20. "Biographie de Jean de Lattre de Tassigny". National Order of Liberation. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
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