Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown awarded to the Swedish Prime Minister Arvid Lindman

Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown /Verdienstorden der Preußischen Krone/ was an award of civil and military merit established 18 January 1901 by King Wilhelm II on the occasion of the bicentennial of the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was presented in one class and consisted of a badge and a breast star. For military merit the award was presented with crossed swords. The order was presented once with diamonds. Only 57 orders were awarded.

The badge of the order is a blue-enamelled, eighteen-karat, yellow-gold Maltese cross with a granular border. In each of the compartments between the four arms of the cross is a red-enamelled crown surmounting the royal monogram ("W II", for Wilhelm II). The obverse medallion shows a golden crown with red enamel, surrounded by a blue-enamelled circular band bearing the gold-lettered motto, "Gott Mit Uns". The reverse medallion bears the intertwined initials "IR W II" (for "Imperator Rex Wilhelm II": "Emperor King William II"), encircled by the date "18 January 1901".​

Full set made by Wagner workshop in Berlin.

Gold, enamel.
Size 82 mm.
Weight 60.3 g.

Engraved W for Wagner.

Breast star.
Silver, gilt, enamel.
Size 90 mm.

Engraved W for Wagner.

 

Salomon Arvid Achates Lindman (19 September 1862 – 9 December 1936) was a Swedish rear admiral, industrialist and conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1906 to 1911 and again from 1928 to 1930.

He was also the leader of the conservative General Electoral Union (Allmänna valmansförbundet) between 1912 and 1935 as well as leader of Lantmanna- och borgarepartiet (a member party of the General Electoral Union) from 1913 to 1935, except for a short while during 1917 when he served as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

His two tenures as Prime Minister, from 1906 to 1911 and from 1928 to 1930, spanned the introduction of parliamentarianism and universal suffrage. Lindman died in an aircraft crash on 9 December 1936, when the Douglas DC-2 in which he was travelling crashed into houses near Croydon Airport just after taking off in thick fog.​