Order of St. Stephen

Royal Order of St. Stephen; Real Ordem de Santo Estevão
	Neck Insignia of the Order of St. Stephen
Awarded by the; Emperor-King of Karnia-Ruthenia
Type	Dynastic order
Established	2014
Motto	Impavidum Ferient Ruinae; The difficulties do not frighten me
Awarded for	At the monarch's pleasure
Status	Currently constituted
Grand Master	Emperor-King Oscar
Grades	Knight / Dame
Statistics
First induction	2014
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of the Edelweiss
Next (lower)	Order of St. Peter
Related	Order of Ottokar
	; Ribbon of the Order of St. Stephen

The Order of St. Stephen is a dynastic order of knighthood founded in Persenburg by Emperor-King Oscar of Karnia-Ruthenia in 2014, to celebrate the Hungarian ancestry of his mother and the patron saint of Imperial and Royal Family, St. Stephen of Hungary. The current sovereign of the order is also its founder, the Emperor-King of Karnia-Ruthenia.

Origin

Established on 25 November 2014, the Order was the first honor created in the kingdom. The idea was to establish a deep connection to the patron saint of the Kingdom of Ruthenia, St. Stephen. Until the creation of the Order of the Ruthenian Eagle and the replacement of it by the Order of the Edelweiss after the proclamation of the Empire, the Order of St. Stephen was the highest award of the country for a short period of time, but it is the most traditional of the awards within the Empire and is also the oldest. During the period in which Ruthenia was only one kingdom, the award was granted only seventeen times.

When the Empire was founded and immediately after the signing of the Karno-Ruthenian Compromise of 2016, the Order of the Edelweiss was founded to be the highest honor of the micronation. Following, the Order of the Ruthenian Eagle was discontinued along with other Ruthenian honors, but the Order of St. Stephen was maintained and became the second most important honor of Karnia-Ruthenia.

Precedence and privileges

Knights and Ladies of the Order are assigned positions in the order of precedence, ranking above all others of knightly rank, with the exception of the Knights of the Order of the Edelweiss. Wives, sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights of the Order of St. Stephen also feature on the order of precedence; relatives of Dames of St. Stephen, however, are not assigned any special precedence. Generally, individuals can derive precedence from their fathers or husbands, but not from their mothers or wives.

After the establishment of Karnia-Ruthenia, the prefixes of "Sir" for Knights and "Lady" for the Dames was abolished. When an individual is entitled to use multiple post-nominal letters, "RKSS" or "RLSS" appears before all others, adding an "R" to the old post-nominal "KSS" for Knights and "LSS" for Dames. Knights and Dames may encircle their arms with the circlet of the Order.

Sovereigns of the Order

2014 - current

His Imperial and Royal Majesty, Emperor-King Oscar of Karnia-Ruthenia

Recipients

2014

His Imperial and Royal Highness, Archduke Ari of Karnia-Ruthenia
Her Imperial and Royal Highness, Archduchess Denise of Karnia-Ruthenia
Her Imperial and Royal Majesty, Empress-Queen Paloma of Karnia-Ruthenia
His Serene Highness, Prince Andreas of Aysellant
His Highness, Grand Duke Christian of Letzembourg
His Highness, Prince Eitan of Szteinbaum
His Royal Majesty, King Isaac I of Wiltogo
His Royal Majesty, King Jeffrey I of Harenfall
His Imperial Highness, Grand Duke Julian of Lundenwic
His Grace, Marquis Michael of New Charter
His Majesty, King Peter II of Santa Cruz

2015

2016

2018

References