The Order of Saint Catherine was instituted by Peter the Great in 1714 on the occasion of his marriage to Empress Catherine I of Russia. All Grand Duchesses received the Order at their christening or marriage while Princesses received it at the age of 18. In addition to the ladies of the Romanov Family, the Order was also bestowed to 12 Dames Grand Cross and 94 Dames Small Cross, the former of which were always ladies of Foreign Royal Houses (The list of recipients is HERE) While the Order of the Starry Cross in Austria, the Order of Queen Maria Luisa in Spain, and the Order of Theresa in Bavaria were also Orders solely for women, the Order of Saint Catherine had less limitations and through various close family relationships, was the main Order worn by most Royal Ladies around Europe.
In the late 19th century, the Russian Imperial Family was quite close to the Danish Royal Family through Empress Maria Feodorovna, and as we can see above most of the Danish Royal Ladies received the Order of Saint Catherine, which was worn quite prominently by both Queen Louise and her successor Queen Lovisa for a plethora of portraits and events, including the Wedding of King George V of Britain in 1893. Queen Alexandrine, the daughter of a Russian Grand Duchess, was also a Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of Saint Catherine.
While both Queen Louise and Queen Lovisa were both painted wearing the sash of the Danish Order of the Elephant (the two pictures are my own), the first Danish Queen pictured wearing the Sash Order was Queen Alexandrine at the Wedding of Crown Prince Leopold of Belgium and Princess Astrid of Sweden in 1926
Queen Alexandra was given the Order of Saint Catherine by the Tsesarevich Alexander in 1866, when he married her sister Princess Dagmar, and not only did she wear it at the Wedding of her brother-in-law, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia in 1874, but she was often described and pictured wearing the Insignia of the Order of Saint Catherine during her long tenure as Princess of Wales, only getting the British Order of the Garter after becoming Queen in 1901. Queen Alexandra's insignia now belongs to the Royal Collection.
Queen Olga of Greece was a Russian Grand Duchess and wore the Order of Saint Catherine in some early portraits after her marriage, before she received the Greek Order of the Redeemer. Her daughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Elena, wore her Sash of the Order of Saint Catherine for many prominent events for decades after her marriage to Prince Nicholas of Greece, including the Wedding of her daughter, Princess Marina, to the Duke of Kent in 1934, though it was replaced by the Greek Order of Saints Olga and Sophia after its establishment in 1936.
Another Grand Duchess who also often wore the Order of Saint Catherine was Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and it was also worn by her daughters, Queen Marie of Romania, and Princess Victoria Melita, who became the Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia.
Following the Revolution, the Order of Saint Catherine was worn by ladies (including many we have mentioned above) at the Wedding of Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna to the Prince of Leiningen in 1925, and at the Wedding of Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia and the Prince of Prussia in 1938. The current Pretender, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna has worn the Order in her younger years, but wears the higher dynastic Orders these days.
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