The Order of the Dannebrog is an Order

Order (decoration)

An order or order of merit is a visible honour, awarded by a government, dynastic house or international organization to an individual, usually in recognition of distinguished service to a nation or to humanity. The distinction between orders and decorations is somewhat vague, except that most...

 of Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, instituted in 1671 by Christian V

Christian V of Denmark

Christian V , was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 to 1699, the son of Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

. It resulted from a move in 1660 to break the absolutism of the nobility. The Order was only to comprise 50 noble Knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

s in one class plus the Master of the Order, i.e. the Danish monarch, and his sons. In 1808, the Order was reformed and divided into four classes, with the ranks:

• Special class

Grand Commander (Storkommandør) — wears the badge with diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

s on a necklet (gentlemen) or on a bow (ladies), plus the star on the left chest;

• First Order class

Grand Cross (Storkors) — wears the badge on a collar or on a sash on the right shoulder, plus the star on the left chest;

• Second Order class

Commander 1st Class (Kommandør af 1.