Hi all. My name is Tim and I'm new here.
My great-grandfather (1885-1973) was the beekeeper for the Dutch royal family before he moved his family to Australia. I was told by my father that he was awarded a medal of the Order or the Orange-Nassau of some type for his services to the Queen keeping their bees. My great-grandfather passed away before I was born and my grandfather passed away when I was little, so I never got to talk to them about it. My dad knows very little, but he does have the medal miniature of his great-grandfather. He was told that when the medal holder passes away, the full sized medal gets returned to the Netherlands, and as such we don't have the large medal. This may or may not be correct - I am only going off what I have been told.
I know there are different types of medals in the Order of the Orange-Nassau, but I would really love to know which one my great-grandfather was awarded. I have his full name and date of birth if I can look it up in a list or in a book. I have taken some close up photos of the miniature that we have which is in pretty poor condition, and also a photo of my great-grandfather wearing his medal when he was still alive, if they help identify it. I was wondering if there was a registry that I could look up somewhere or a book I could buy with the names and awards listed, or if you can tell by looking at the evidence I have.
If anyone can identify these medals or can point me in the right direction, I'd be super grateful to know more about my great-grandfather. Thank you for reading.