Order of Leopold II

National Orders are awarded by Royal Decree at fixed dates: 8 April (Birthday of King Albert I), 15 November (King's Feast), and in some cases on 21 July (Belgian national holiday)) to reward meritorious services to the Kingdom of Belgium based on the career path and age of the recipient. A number of different regulations rule the award of National Order for the various ministries. In addition, the National Orders may be awarded by the King for especially meritorious deeds. The Royal Decrees are published in the Belgian Official Journal (Moniteur Belge).

Top left and center: Grand Cross' plaque and sash, top right: Grand Officer's plaque, bottom, from left to right: Commander's cross, Officer's cross, Knight's cross, Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal (courtesy Société de l'Ordre de Léopold)

The Minister responsible for Foreign Affairs, currently the Federal Public Service (SPF/FOD) Foreign Affairs, administers the national orders and has a role of advisor in cases not fitting within a regulation.

For the award of National Orders for persons to which no regulation apply or has been adopted, the number of awards is limited every year by decision of the Council of Ministers (contingent).

The classes of the National Orders are integrated in a combined hierarchy defined by law, whereby within one class the Order of Leopold is senior to the Order of the Crown, which is senior to the Order of Leopold II. Except in some specific cases, one cannot be awarded a National Order at a level below the highest that the recipient has already received.

People who are the subject of criminal proceedings will usually not be awarded a National Order until they are declared not guilty.

The Order of Leopold II is mostly awarded to military personnel on the basis of their length of service, although exceptions to that rule exist where the order is presented to military personnel for exceptional or meritorious service. (e.g. awards to officers or non-commissioned officers for devoted service to His Majesy the King). When officers are considered for the award based on their length of service, their years of service in a non-officer's rank count for half. The first twelve years of service as a member of the flying personnel counts double.

• Grand Officer: Awarded at the time of retirement to a major-general having a minimum of 40 years of meritorious service;
• Commander: Awarded after 30 years of meritorious service to a field officer member of the flying personnel with minimum rank of lieutenant-colonel, or at the time of retirement to other field officers with minimum rank of lieutenant-colonel having a minimum of 30 years of meritorious service;
• Officer: Awarded after 22 years of meritorious service to a commissioned officer member of the flying personnel with minimum rank of captain, or at the time of retirement to other commissioned officers with minimum rank of captain having between 20 and 25 years of meritorious service;
• Knight: Awarded after 13 years of meritorious service to a commissioned officer member of the flying personnel, after 30 years of meritorious service for a non-commissioned officer (13 years for non-commissioned officers member of the flying personnel), and after 40 years of service for a private or corporal;
• Gold Medal: Awarded after 20 years of meritorious service to a non-commissioned officer (9 years for non-commissioned officers member of the flying personnel), and after 25 years of service for a private or corporal;
• Silver Medal: Awarded after 20 years of meritorious service for a private or corporal.

For awards to military personnel, there is no minimum age requirement.

For commissioned officers not members of the flying personnel, the Order of Leopold II is only awarded at the time of retirement, even if it is in fact earned before that in line with the rules presented above. Even then, because of the generic rule that one cannot be awarded a National Order at a level below the highest that the recipient has already received, the Order of Leopold II will not be awarded if the recipient has been awarded in the meantime a higher National Order than the Order of Leopold II at the Class he could receive. This apparent anomaly is due to the fact that King Albert I, who was fond of aviation, wanted to provide a special reward to aircraft pilots, and therefore ordered that the Order of Leopold II only be awarded to them. In its early days, the Order of Leopold II awarded to pilots was adorned with a bar for every one hundred hours flown (a practice currently discontinued).

The Order of Leopold II is also sometimes awarded to military personnel not meeting the conditions above when they have performed especially meritorious services to the King that do not deserve a special award of the Order of Leopold. This is in particular the case for commissioned officers who have been adjutant to the King or Crown Prince (usually a part-time position for a few especially selected Major), who are usually awarded the Order at the rank of commander.

The Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold II is awarded to the presidents, secretaries and members of the board of directors of the largest representative trade organisations such as trade unions on the basis of the number of members of the organisation, of the length of their membership of the board, and on the length of their tenure within the board.

The Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold II is also awarded, after a tenure of 10 years, to the members of the provincial committees for the promotion of labour who have reached the age of 42.