Current Holders of The Grand Cross
This list contains 94 holders of the Grand Cross, 21 of which have also been awarded the Collar and gives the year of their appointment. The list is collated alphabetically by last name, those recipients not possessing a last name, such as royalty and most Icelanders are collated by first name. 6 of the listed are not heads of states or royals, these are marked by names in bold. Before the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit was created in 1985, the Order of St Olav was awarded to members of a foreign delegation during state visits. Many holders of the grand cross who are not Heads of state are not listed here.
- This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. This list was last updated on 12 October 2012.
| Country | Name | Title, Position | Grand Cross with Collar |
Grand Cross | Year of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Heinz Fischer | President | Y | 2007 | |
| Belgium | Albert II | King | Y | 1964 | |
| Belgium | Mathilde | Crown Princess | Y | 2003 | |
| Belgium | Paola | Queen | Y | 1997 | |
| Belgium | Philippe | Crown Prince | Y | 2003 | |
| Brazil | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva | President | Y | 2003 | |
| Bulgaria | Georgi Parvanov | President | Y | 2006 | |
| United Kingdom | Andrew | Prince | Y | 1988 | |
| United Kingdom | Charles | Crown Prince | Y | 1978 | |
| United Kingdom | Edward | Prince | Y | 1988 | |
| Commonwealth realms | Elizabeth II | Queen | Y | 1955 | |
| Commonwealth realms | Philip | Prince Consort | Y | 1952 | |
| United Kingdom | Richard | Prince | Y | 1973 | |
| Croatia | Ivo Josipović | President | Y | 2011 | |
| Denmark | Benedikte | Princess | Y | 1974 | |
| Denmark | Frederik | Crown Prince | Y | 1990 | |
| Denmark | Henrik | Prince Consort | Y | 1968 | |
| Denmark | Joachim | Prince | Y | 1991 | |
| Denmark | Margrethe II | Queen | Y | 1958 | |
| Denmark | Mary | Crown Princess | Y | 2005 | |
| Estonia | Arnold Rüütel | 3rd President | Y | 2002 | |
| Finland | Martti Ahtisaari | 10th President | Y | 1994 | |
| Finland | Mauno Koivisto | 9th President | Y | 1983 | |
| Finland | Sauli Niinistö | 12th President | Y | 2012 | |
| Finland | Tarja Halonen | 11th President | Y | 2000 | |
| France | Jacques Chirac | former President | Y | 2000 | |
| France | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing | former President (when Minister of Finance) | Y | 1962 | |
| Germany | Roman Herzog | former President | Y | 1998 | |
| Germany | Horst Köhler | former President | Y | 2007 | |
| Germany | Marianne von Weizsäcker | former first lady | Y | 1986 | |
| Germany | Richard von Weizsäcker | former President | Y | 1986 | |
| Greece | Constantine II | former King | Y | Y | 1964, 1962 |
| Greece | Constantinos Stephanopoulos | 6th President | Y | 2004 | |
| Hungary | Árpád Göncz | former President | Y | 1999 | |
| Hungary | Ferenc Mádl | former President | Y | 2002 | |
| Iran | Farah Pahlavi | former Empress | Y | 1965 | |
| Iceland | Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson | 5th President | Y | 1998 | |
| Iceland | Vigdís Finnbogadóttir | 4th President | Y | 1982 | |
| Italy | Carlo Azeglio Ciampi | former President | Y | 2001 | |
| Japan | Akihito | Emperor | Y | Y | 2001, 1953 |
| Japan | Masako | Crown Princess | Y | 2001 | |
| Japan | Michiko | Empress | Y | 2001 | |
| Japan | Naruhito | Crown Prince | Y | 2001 | |
| Japan | Tomohito of Mikasa | Princess | Y | 2001 | |
| Jordan | Abdullah II | King | Y | 2000 | |
| Jordan | Hassan | Prince (former Crown Prince) | Y | ? | |
| Jordan | Rania | Queen | Y | 2000 | |
| Latvia | Guntis Ulmanis | former President | Y | 1998 | |
| Latvia | Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga | former President | Y | 2000 | |
| Lithuania | Valdas Adamkus | former President | Y | 1998 | |
| Lithuania | Dalia Grybauskaitė | President | Y | 2011 | |
| Luxembourg | Henri | Grand Duke | Y | 2011 | |
| Luxembourg | Jean | Grand Duke | Y | 1964 | |
| Luxembourg | Maria Teresa | Grand Duchess | Y | 1996 | |
| Netherlands | Beatrix | Queen | Y | 1964 | |
| Netherlands | Margriet | Princess | Y | 1964 | |
| Netherlands | Willem-Alexander | Crown Prince | Y | 1996 | |
| Norway | Astrid | Princess | Y | 1956 | |
| Norway | Kjell Magne Bondevik | former Prime Minister | Y | 2004 | |
| Norway | Niels Christian Ditleff | Diplomat | Y | 1946 | |
| Norway | Lars Petter Forberg | Master of the Royal Household | Y | 2004 | |
| Norway | Haakon | Crown Prince | Y | 1991 | |
| Norway | Magne Hagen | former secretary to the King | Y | 2000 | |
| Norway | Harald V | King | Y Grand Master |
1955, 1991 | |
| Norway | Kaare Langlete | former Master of the Royal Household | Y | 1993 | |
| Norway | Jørgen Hårek Kosmo | former President of the Norwegian Parliament | Y | 2005 | |
| Norway | Märtha Louise | Princess | Y | 1989 | |
| Norway | Mette-Marit | Crown Princess | Y | 2001 | |
| Norway | Ragnhild | Princess | Y | 1982 | |
| Norway | Carsten Smith | former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Norway | Y | 2003 | |
| Norway | Sonja | Queen | Y | 1972 | |
| Poland | Aleksander Kwaśniewski | former President | Y | 1996 | |
| Poland | Lech Wałęsa | former President | Y | 1995 | |
| Portugal | António Ramalho Eanes | 17th President | Y | 1978 | |
| Portugal | Jorge Sampaio | former president | Y | 2004 | |
| Portugal | Aníbal Cavaco Silva | current president | Y | 2008 | |
| Romania | Emil Constantinescu | former President | Y | 1999 | |
| Slovakia | Ivan Gašparovič | President | Y | 2010 | |
| Slovenia | Danilo Türk | President | Y | 2011 | |
| South Africa | Nelson Mandela | former President | Y | 1998 | |
| Spain | Cristina | Princess | Y | 1995 | |
| Spain | Elena | Princess | Y | 1995 | |
| Spain | Felipe | Crown Prince | Y | 1995 | |
| Spain | Juan Carlos I | King | Y | 1982 | |
| Spain | Sofía | Queen | Y | 1982 | |
| Sweden | Carl XVI Gustaf | King | Y | 1974 | |
| Sweden | Carl Philip | Prince | Y | 2005 | |
| Sweden | Christina | Princess | Y | 1992 | |
| Sweden | Désirée | Princess | Y | 1992 | |
| Sweden | Lilian | Princess | Y | 1992 | |
| Sweden | Madeleine | Princess | Y | 2005 | |
| Sweden | Silvia | Queen | Y | 1982 | |
| Sweden | Victoria | Crown Princess | Y | 1995 | |
| Thailand | Bhumibol Adulyadej | King | Y | 1960 | |
| Thailand | Sirikit | Queen | Y | 1965 |
Read more about this topic: Order Of St. Olav
Famous quotes containing the words current, holders, grand and/or cross:
“Through this broad street, restless ever,
Ebbs and flows a human tide,
Wave on wave a living river;
Wealth and fashion side by side;
Toiler, idler, slave and master, in the same quick current glide.”
—John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)
“Their holders have always seemed to me like a woman who should undertake at a state fair to run a sewing machine, under pretense of advertising it, while she had never spent an hour in learning its use.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“A garden has this advantage, that it makes it indifferent where you live. A well-laid garden makes the face of the country of no account; let that be low or high, grand or mean, you have made a beautiful abode worthy of man.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It was mankind that hung on the cross for two thousand years: and a terrible god practiced his cruelty and called it “love.””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)