What's that elephant the Danes are wearing? Tatler's guide to the emblems and quirks of Denmark's highest honour, the Order of the Elephant

In the 1400s, prior to the Reformation which gripped Europe and divided the church, such religious 'clubs' as the Order of the Elephant were common features of aristocratic life. At the time of the Order of the Elephant's birth, Christian I was King of Denmark - and in fact, Norway and Sweden too, creating a personal union known as the Kalmar Union. During this period, the emblem of the club was an image of the Virgin Mary holding her Son within a crescent moon. This was hung from a collar formed of links in the shape of elephants. The confraternity mutated over the centuries but endured a stifled period after the Reformation, in which such clubs became suspect.

In 1580, Frederik II - eight Frederiks prior to our current Frederik - revived the order and replaced the medallion of the mother and child with an elephant (a Reformation-safe, Protestant approach - if a quirky one!). But it was Christian V, in 1693, who gave the club its official statues and founding order. At this time, it was scheduled as comprising 30 noble knights and one Grand Master (the King) along with his sons. It was only in 1958 that the statutes were amended by Royal Ordinance to allow the ennoblement of women as members of the order.