page_title: Order of Saint Joachim
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Order of Saint Joachim / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Double portrait of General Richard Wilford of the British Army and his contemporary Sir Levett Hanson. The figures are three-quarter length, Wilford standing in his uniform of the Light Company of the 2nd (Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot; courtier and authority on knighthood Hanson, seated, in academic robes. Both beside a tree in an extensive background.
context_page_description: The Order of Saint Joachim is an order of chivalry founded in 1755 to promote religious tolerance in Europe, and continues to exist today. Admiral Horatio Nelson accepted the Grand Cross of the Order in 1802.
context_section_description: In 1801, 'Sir' Levett Hanson wrote to Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson offering him membership of the order to recognize his victory at the Battle of the Nile. Following the review and approval of the English College of Arms, the King's Warrant approving the acceptance and wear of the insignia of the Order of Saint Joachim was granted. Nelson was wearing the breast cross of the Order of Saint Joachim at the Battle of Trafalgar and is still seen on the famous "Trafalgar coat" in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, UK. Several other Englishmen later received the King's Warrant to accept the Order of Saint Joachim, including Nelson's brother, Viscount Merton, General Sir Charles Imhoff, and Philippe d'Auvergne, Prince de Boullion, Rear Admiral of the Blue. In 1802, Hanson published An Accurate Historical Account of all the Orders of Knighthood at present existing in Europe casting the Order of Saint Joachim as equal to existing chivalric orders and dedicating the work to Nelson.
  Knighthoods granted by The Order of Saint Joachim to British subjects and confirmed by the King's Warrant also entitled to holder to assume the title of 'Sir' as in the case of Sir Charles Imhoff where "King George the Third not only permitted Imhoff... to accept the insignia and rank of a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Joachim, but granted him at the same time leave to assume, in virtue of that foreign decoration, the titular distinction of a Knight of England." 
  In 1834 one critic – George Frederick Beltz, Lancaster Herald – claimed that the Order seemed to be domiciled wherever Hanson found himself, and that 'Knighthoods' were available to anyone with sufficient funds. "It was long understood," he wrote, "that moyennant a certain not inconsiderable deposit at a banking house at Pall-mall, the distinction was at the service of any one who might have a fancy for it; and that letters-missive were soon forthcoming from 'Sir' Levett, containing due notification of election by the 'equestrian, secular and chapteral Order,' at its last sitting at Bamberg, Hamburgh, Lubeck or wherever that personage happened, at the time, to be domiciliated."
  Napoleon's brother-in-law, Joachim Murat (March 25, 1767 – October 13, 1815), a Marshal of France, usurped the grand mastership of the Order of Saint Joachim in 1806 when he was made the Grand Duke of the newly created "Duchy of Berg and Cleves". During his term as Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves (March 15, 1806 to August 1, 1808 when he left to become King of Naples) Joachim Murat declared himself the Grand Master of The Order of Saint Joachim, and expanded the Order to include members of the French Legion of Honour. His authority was never recognized by the rest of the Order in exile.
  
  Following the Treaty of Vienna, The Order of Saint Joachim continued to be associated with the House of Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (2 January 1784 – 29 January 1844) continued to award the Order of Saint Joachim. A letter from 1821 exists from a Dr. Joseph Romain Louis de Kirckhoff (also de Kerckhov) thanking Ernst I, Herzog von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha for awarding him the Order of Saint Joachim. His son, Ernest II, (21 June 1818 – 22 August 1893) is known to have included the Order's post-nominals "K.J." among his awards and honours. Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (26 February 1861 – 10 September 1948) a prince of the Koháry branch of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was popularly pictured with the insignia of The Order of St Joachim in 1888, although the connection between the two is unknown.
caption: Sir Levett Hanson of the Order of St Joachim and General Richard Wilford in portrait by artist Nathaniel Hone, R.A., 1777
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