Order of the Black Eagle

Order of the Black Eagle Schwarzer Adlerorden
Star of the Order of the Black Eagle
Type	State Order (formerly) House Order (currently)
Established	17 January 1701
Country	Kingdom of Prussia
Royal house	House of Hohenzollern
Motto	Suum Cuique (idiomatically, "to each according to his merits")
Eligibility	Members of ruling houses, senior civil and military officials and other worthy figures appointed by the King of Prussia.
Awarded for	Civil or military merit
Sovereign	Prince Georg Friedrich
Grades	Knight
Statistics
First induction	1701
Total inductees	407 (to 1918)[1]
Precedence
Next (higher)	None
Next (lower)	Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown
Ribbon of the order

The Order of the Black Eagle (German: Hoher Orden vom Schwarzen Adler) was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg (who became Friedrich I, King in Prussia, the following day). In his Dutch exile after World War I, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family. He made his second wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, a Lady in the Order of the Black Eagle.