KENYA ORDER OF THE GOLDEN HEART

[heusy68]

Hello Gentlemen,the Order of the Golden Heart is the senior Order of Kenya.Like the Order of the Burning Spear it was instituted in 1966 and exist in 3 classes.

Chief Golden Heart ( C.G.H.) and HM. Queen Elisabeth II is Chief Golden Heart ; then Elder Golden Heart ( E.G.H.), then Moran of the Golden Hear ( M.G.H.)..

Here I will begin by a picture of President Mwai Kibaki awarded Kofi Anan the insignia of the Chief of the Golden Heart

His Highness Karim Aga Khan was also awarded Chief of the Golden Heart by President Kibaki ( a far better quality picture can be seen on the link below ).

I had to re-size the picture to directly post it on ths forum,but click the link,the picture is 1000 % better.

http://simerg.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/aga-khan-iv-kenya-medal.jpg

Emmanuel

Edited February 13, 2011 by heusy68

[heusy68]

Here is the insignia of the 2nd class Elder of the Golden Heart awarded to Anton Benya (1912-2001) from Austria (President of the Parliament from Austria from 4 november 1971 till 12 december 1986)

This set was auctioned in Germany in december 2007.

Emmanuel

Edited February 12, 2011 by heusy68

[heusy68]

This is the breast star of the Elder of the Golden Heart.It is made by Spink with their back plate on reverse.It's not a so large star,only 73 millimeters in diameter.

I also have the sash badge which exactly the same,but smaller,but I have only 30 centimeters of unfinished sash.

So if anyone here have a complete sash,or even just the bow I would be very interested to complete my set.

Emmanuel

[heusy68]

Here is the insignia of the Moran of the Golden Heart ( M.G.H.).It's also made by Spink but outer center is of black enamel.

Emmanuel

[ilja559]

Kenya's tourism minister Najib Balala with Order of Colden heart and Kenya Silver Star.

[ilja559]

Chief Golden Heart sash badge

[ilja559]

Chief Golden Heart breast star

[ilja559]

Chief Golden Heart collar

[heusy68]

Here on the topic concerning the Order of the Golden Heart I post again the picture of Maj Gen Tangai M.G.H. , E.B.S. from Kenya Air Force,he's wearing the Moran of the Golden Heart as a breast star.

Now watch the second picture : Maj Gen Pastor O. Awitta M.G.H., E.B.S. Commander in Chief of the Navy of Kenya.I choose these 2 officers because they were awarded exactly the same ranks on both Orders.

This officer is wearing the Moran of the Golden Heart as a neck badge,like the one I displayed above.

Is it a kind of fashion,or the way of wearing the rank of Moran of the Golden Heart may have evoluted through time since 1966 ?

Here the link to all Kenya Navy Chef of Staff.

http://www.mod.go.ke/Navysite/kenyanisation.htm

Emmanuel

[Dragomir]

Chief of the Order insignia.

Dragomir

[Antonio Prieto]

Thanks to all for sharing this infos and images

[ilja559]

General Jeremiah Mutinda Kianga.

[peter monahan]

Ilja

Thank you for the post. Do any of the members have information on the award criteria?

Peter

[Antonio Prieto]

the Order was established in 1966 and is awarded to those who have served Kenya in a distinguished manner.

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/queenandcommonwealth/MicroObject.asp?row=18&themeid=946&item=18

[ilja559]

Moran of the Golden Heart

[heusy68]

Hello Ilja, these insignia were produced in Germany in the late 1970ies (by a company from Munich), likely immediately after First president Kenyatta passed away in 1978. Even if these insignia were in the UBS Order sale of November 2008 (Collection Andreas Tammam), there is yet a photo to be found, or any evidence that these insignia have ever been really awarded. You know I constantly search for that kind of evidence, but yet, I got none.

Kenya Armed Forces displayed well on their respective web site, photo of the successive Chief of Staff in full uniform. Never an award from this series was seen on these photo.

My opinion is that these insignia were even never delivered to Kenya. But it's only my perennial opinion.

Best regards.

Emmanuel

[Megan]

The Spinks sale 21001 has 3 collars, described as for Chief, Elder, and Moran of the Order.

 

Chief -

The notes say that the Chief collar was awarded to The Honourable P. J. Ngei, who was a friend of Kenyatta having been imprisoned with him. He was one of the 'Kapenguria Six', forming the African People's Party; he took up a seat in the independent Kenyan Parliament in 1969. He died on 15 August 2004.

 

 

Elder

 

 

Moran

 

 

The other two are not mentioned as having been awarded to anyone, just as being in a case of issue complete with ribbon bar.