Knight Grand Cross
Grand Cross is the highest grade in many orders of knighthood. Sometimes the holders of the highest grade are referred to "commanders grand cross", "knights grand cross" or just "grand crosses"; in other cases the actual insignia itself is called "the grand cross".
Alternatively, in some other orders, the highest grade may be called the "grand cordon", "grand collar" etc. In those cases the rank of grand cross may come after another rank (e.g. the Portuguese Order of Saint James of the Sword).
In the United Kingdom the rank entails admission to knighthood (allowing the recipient to use the title 'Sir' (male) or 'Dame' (female) before his or her name). The grand crosses of the various British orders are usually styled "Knight Grand Cross".
Read more about Knight Grand Cross: Denomination "Grand Cordons"
Famous quotes containing the words knight, grand and/or cross:
“By a knight of ghosts and shadows
I summon’d am to a tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wide world’s end:
Methinks it is no journey.”
—Unknown. Tom o’ Bedlam’s Song (l. 57–60)
“What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.”
—William Blake (1757–1827)
“Never expect any recognition here—the system prohibits it. The cross is not affixed to the genius, no, the genius is affixed to the cross.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)