Royal Order of Francis I

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Royal Order of Francis I" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Royal Order of Francis I
Breast Star of the Order
Awarded by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Type	Previously a State Order, Currently a Dynastic Order
Established	28 September 1829
Motto	MERITO DE REGE OPTIME
Awarded for	Civil and military merit and services to industry, agriculture, and the arts to the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Precedence
Next (higher)	Order of Saint George of the Reunion
Ribbon of the Order

The Royal Order of Francis I (properly 'The Royal Order of Francis I of the Two Sicilies' Italian: Reale Ordine di Francesco I) was an extinct order of merit of the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies which was annexed in 1861 by the King of Italy (until 1860 King of Piedmont and Sardinia). It has been revived by Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, as an award for services to charity and inter-religious understanding and includes a number of non-Roman Catholic statesmen and stateswomen among its membership.