The Order of Merit recognises distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign. To date, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, remains the youngest person ever inducted into the Order ofMerit.
About Order of Merit in brief
The Order of Merit is a Commonwealth order of merit recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by King Edward VII, admission into the order remains the personal gift of its Sovereign. There may be, however, only 24 living individuals in the order at any given time, not including honorary appointees, and new members are personally selected by the reigning monarch of the realms. To date, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, remains the youngest person ever inducted into the Order ofMerit, having been admitted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1968, when he was 47 years of age. From its inception, the order has been open to women, Florence Nightingale being the first woman to receive the honour, in 1907.
The order’s statutes were amended in 1935 to include members of the Royal Air Force and, in 1969, the definition of honorary recipients was expanded to include Commonwealth of Nations that are not realms. Within the limited membership is a designated military division, with its own unique insignia, though it is currently unpopulated, Lord Mountbatten of Burma having been the last person honoured. Honorary members are rare, though there is no numerical limit, though such appointments are headed by Elizabeth II and thus are only granted such as Mother Teresa Mandela and Nelson Mandela. All members are awarded the right to use the post-nominal letters OM and wear the badge of the order, but the order’s precedence differs between countries.
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This page is based on the article Order of Merit published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
