Order of the Star of Jordan

الكوكب الأردني Order of the Star of Jordan
Awarded for	A national order of merit
Status	Currently constituted
Grades (w/ post-nominals)	Grand Cordon Grand Officer Commander Officer Knight
Ribbon of the order

The Order of the Star of Jordan (Wisam al-Kawkab al-Urdani) or The Order of Hussein ibn Ali (Wisam al-Hussein ibn Ali) is an award and military decoration of the sovereign state of Jordan and is awarded for military or civil merit. It was founded in honour of his father, by King Abdullah I on 22 June 1949, King Abdullah ibn Hussain. The Grand Cordon class was introduced by King Hussein on 23 September 1967.^[1] It is awarded to members of the Royal Family (Hashemite) in two classes (1. Qiladat al-Hussein ibn Ali – Collar: awarded to Heads of State, and 2. Grand Cordon: awarded to consorts of heads of state, senior Jordanian and foreign princes and princesses). The award possesses 5 Grades; (Grand Cordon, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight) plus a medal. These may be awarded to anyone deserving. A Ribbon is issued for members of the military; Dark green with narrow purple edge stripes.^[2] Recipients use the postnomials SJ which are altered depending on the class awarded; GCSJ for Grand Cordon; GOSJ for Grand officer; CSJ for Commander; OSJ for Officer; and KSJ for Knight.

Al-Kawkab Al-Urduni is a transliteration of (الكوكب الأردني), a name given to a shield (trophy) that is given in Jordan. It is usually given by Head of state King Abdullah to reward extraordinary achievements, usually by military officials and other officials. It is given in a ceremony on the Independence Day of Jordan, 25 May.

Notable recipients

The Order of the Star is awarded to members of the Royal Family (the Hashemites) by convention. While others are often Royalty of other states, the Order of the Star is also considered a military award, as such, members of the Jordanian military are believed to have been awarded the order, however no reliable source confirms this.

Grand Cordon

• Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• Queen Elizabeth II
• Faisal al-Fayez
• Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein
• Prince Muhammad bin Talal
• Samir Rifai
• Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
• Princess Astrid of Norway
• Václav Havel, Czech republic president

Grand Officer

• Faisal ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud
• Prince Hashim bin Al Hussein
• Prince Ali bin Al Hussein
• Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein

Commander

• Prince Hassan bin Talal

Officer

• Prince Asem bin Al Nayef
• Prince Rashid bin El Hassan
• Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad
• Prince Talal bin Muhammad

Knight

• Hussein bin Al Abdullah

References

1. ^ http://www.royalark.net/Jordan/jordan4.htm
2. ^ http://www.medals.org.uk/jordan/jordan005.htm