President Armand Fallières during his statevisit to the Netherlands, 1911

[laurentius]

Dear fellow collectors,

I received this picture today of president Fallières together with Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands during his statevisit to the Netherlands. It seemed rather unusual to me that he, in his position as the French President, is not wearing the grandcross of the Legion D'Honneur, but rather another order. Would someone be able to enlighten me as to what he is wearing? I suspect a Dutch Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Kind regards and thanks in advance, Laurentius

[OvBacon]

He would have had to wear the highest Dutch order he had received when visiting the Netherlands officially. When for instance the Dutch Royal family visits the UK they will be wearing a British order and not a Dutch. It looks more like a order of William  

Edited July 24, 2020 by OvBacon

[saxcob]

The (Military) Order of Wiliam is awarded only  for excellent bravery in battle.

[laurentius]

11 minutes ago, OvBacon said:

order of William

The Military Order of William was not presented to politicians at this time anymore. Even if it was the Order of William he would have received the commander's cross rather than the grandcross. Emperor Wilhelm II was the last foreign royal to receive the Military Order of William in 1893 (I might be a few years off here).

Although it is generally true that people wear the highest order from the country they are visiting this is something which I have never seen a French president do. I can only recall them wearing the grandcross of the Legion D'Honneur, of which the French president is the figurehead. 

President Mac Mahon, who was President of France during the 1870's started this tradition, of wearing the Grandcross everywhere he went, also when visiting foreign countries. This is why I asked what kind of decoration Fallières is wearing here, that would made him ignore this unofficial official rule.

[OvBacon]

Here he can be seen wearing another order that is not the Legion D'Honneur. Maybe he wasn't so precise in his choices of bling

This photo is from that same visit in 1911. 

[saxcob]

He is wearing the order of St. Olav.

[OvBacon]

12 hours ago, saxcob said:

He is wearing the order of St. Olav.

The first image was more an indicator of Fallières not necessarily taking his predecessors protocol of wearing the LD very seriously.... What is really interesting is the order in the second image as it is the same order that  Laurentius asked about. I know the Militaire Willems-Orde was awarded to some statesmen but I was unaware that Wilhelm II was the last to receive it (btw it was 8 September 1889). 

Edited July 25, 2020 by OvBacon