Gentlemen, Allow me to add some thoughts on the interesting subject of decorations awarded by former ruling families, chivalric associations and the like. Post-abdication awards seem to have been tolerated by the Weimar state and the Reichswehr. They also seem to have been tolerated in the early years of the TR, there obviously were a number of leading Nazis hungry for some big, flashy gongs. Legally, these were not of course "official" awards anymore, and the legal status of the orders etc. handed out was -and is - nothing more or less than a wearable token presented by a private citizen or a civil-law association. That they were highly prized by the recipients does not alter the legal situation. As has been pointed out in this thread, even today a number of formerly ruling houses, as well as some pretenders, and any number of "chivalric" organisations hand out orders that in part correspond to orders already extant at the time, but in part are completely new creations. Many of these "chivalric" assoctians are nothing more than money scams pandering to their members' vanity. For paying a - sometimes quite substantial amount - of money, you get the "right" to attend social gatherings and strut around dressed up in white or black tie and sporting chains, sashes, stars and crosses. Some old chivalric/caritative associations are officially recognized, e.g. in Germany the Johanniterorden, and their badges may be worn even with Bundeswehr uniforms. For the others, and the former dynastic orders, not being official or officially recognized awards, in Germany you can wear as many as you like with civilian clothing, as long as the badges etc. by their design may not be mistaken for any decoration awarded by the Federal Republic or the L?nder. BTW, another post-WWI awardee of the HOH Komthur was Franz Seldte, leader of the Stahlhelm and Reich minister in the Hitler government. Best regards, Kurt