Order of the White Rose of Finland

The Order of the White Rose of Finland was established by Gustaf Mannerheim in his capacity as regent (temporary head of state) on January 28, 1919.^[4][5] The name comes from the victory of the White side in the Finnish Civil War 1918 and from the heraldic rose, of which there are nine argent ones on the coat of arms of Finland.^[6] The order's rules and regulations were confirmed on May 16, 1919,^[7] and its present rules date from June 1, 1940. The revised scale of ranks was confirmed most recently in 1985. The original decorations were designed by Akseli Gallen-Kallela. The swastikas of the collar were replaced by fir crosses in 1963, designed by heraldic artist Gustaf von Numers. The honour can be granted for military as well as civilian merit.

The ribbon for all classes is ultramarine, as it is found in the flag of Finland, although officially the statutes do not define the color of the ribbon beyond it being "dark blue".^[8] The motto of the order appears on the medallion and is Isänmaan hyväksi (Finnish for 'For the Good of the Fatherland').^[2][9]

The president of Finland wears the Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland with Collar (a neck chain). The Collar is worn four centimetres from either side and hangs at equal distances at the front and back. The Grand Cross and Commander marks are awarded with a breast star.

The classes of the order of the White Rose of Finland are:

• Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland with Collar
• Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland
• First Class Commander of the White Rose of Finland
• Commander of the White Rose of Finland
• First Class Knight of the White Rose of Finland
• Knight (Chevalier) of the White Rose of Finland
• Cross of Merit of the White Rose of Finland
• First Class Medal of the White Rose of Finland with golden cross
• First Class Medal of the White Rose of Finland
• Medal of the White Rose of Finland

Generally the Grand Cross with Collar is awarded only to foreign heads of state, e.g. to King Fuad I of Egypt (1935), Charles de Gaulle (1962), Josip Broz Tito (1963) and King Birendra of Nepal (1988). In the case of royals, consorts may be awarded with it. Heirs apparent of Nordic monarchies have also been awarded.^[10] The Grand Master may however in principle award it at his pleasure.^[11] During World War II Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop were exceptionally given the Grand Cross with Collar because Adolf Hitler would not receive orders.^[12]

Prime ministers of Finland customarily receive the Grand Cross. Certain leftist politicians refused the cross or did not wear it, and the transient term in office of Anneli Jäätteenmäki did not lead to the president awarding the cross.^[13] The Grand Cross is also given to presidents of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Court, the archbishop of Turku and Finland, and the chancellor of the order.^[14]

Recipients list

See also: List of Commanders of the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland

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Selected recipients of the Order of the White Rose of Finland

Year	Commander	Notes
1919	Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim	Regent of Finland (1918–1919) Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces (1918, 1939–1946) President of Finland (1944–1946)
1926	Ernesto Burzagli
1930	Tomáš Masaryk	President of Czechoslovakia
1931	Miklós Horthy	Regent of Hungary
1934	Shaul Tchernichovsky
	Gladys Wright	"for her contribution to improving relations between Britain and Finland."[15]
1939	Walther von Brauchitsch
1941	Dean Driscoll	for services "toward relieving the civilian population of wartorn Finland".[16]
	Hermann Göring	politician, military leader
	Eduard Dietl
	Josef Veltjens
1942	Joachim von Ribbentrop
	Hirohito	Emperor of Japan[17]
	Ion Antonescu
1951	Bernard Aabel	In 1948, Aabel became the Assistant Military Attaché in Helsinki, Finland.[18]
1955	Sir Thomas Beecham	[19]
1956	Kliment Voroshilov	[20][21]
1960	Jarl Lindfors
1961	Maggie Gripenberg	[22]
1962	Charles de Gaulle	[17]
1963	Josip Broz Tito
	Koča Popović
1965	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
1967	Gamal Abdel Nasser	[23]
	Zoltán Kodály
1969	Anne, Princess Royal
1970	Mohammad Reza Pahlavi	Shah of Iran
1971	Olli Mannermaa
	Arthur Lydiard
1974	Carl XVI Gustaf	King of Sweden[17]
1976	Leonid Brezhnev	[17]
1978	Dmitriy Ustinov	Marshal of the Soviet Union
1984	Arthur J. Collingsworth
1988	Ensio Seppänen
	Birendra Bir Bikram Shah	Late king of Nepal[17]
1991	Margareta Steinby	[24]
1996	Bhumibol Adulyadej	King of Thailand
2004	Elwin Svenson	Executive director – International Programs, FEMBA/GAP programs, UCLA Anderson School of Management[25] "for assisting the expansion of Finnish start-up companies through the UCLA Anderson's Global Access Program."[25]
	Kalervo Kummola	Knight of the Order of White Rose of Finland, ice hockey executive, businessman, and politician[26]
	Dáithí O'Ceallaigh
	Viktor Pylypenko	historian
2005	Kostiantyn Tyshchenko	Philologist, linguist
2006	Erkki Oja	[27]
2007	Rada Borić	[28][29]
2008	Timothy Rodd Purcell	Chairman of Finland Australia Chamber of Commerce
	Simon Beresford-Wylie	Chief executive officer, Nokia Siemens Networks
2009	Mart Laar
	Nursultan Nazarbayev	President of Kazakhstan[30]
	Bashar al-Assad	[31]
2010	Rajendra Kumar Pachauri
2012	Sauli Niinistö	President of Finland (2012–2024)
	Armi Kuusela	Miss Universe 1952
2015	Anna-Maja Henriksson	[32]
	Tapani Jyrki Tarvainen	[33] Chevalier (Knight) of the White Rose of Finland
2016	Pauline Kiltinen	Cross of Merit of the Order of the White Rose for the promotion of Finnish culture including the commissioning of Rockland the Opera[34]
2022	Hanna Vehkamäki
	Sanna Marin	Prime Minister of Finland (2019-2023)
2024	Alexander Stubb	President of Finland (2024–)
	Alar Karis	President of Estonia (2021–)
2025	Frederik X	King of Denmark (2024-)
	Volodymyr Zelenskyy	President of Ukraine (2019–), Grand Cross with Collar[35]
2025	Edgars Rinkēvičs	President of Latvia (2023-)
	Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands	King of the Netherlands (2013-)
	Máxima of the Netherlands	Queen of Netherlands (2013-)

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