Order of St. Stanislas Priory of Scotland
Annual Investiture 2026
A weekend of elegance, culture, and impact,
in company with the Order's Royal Protector, HIRH Sandor Habsburg-Lotrhingen
Archduke of Austria, Prince of Tuscany
Join us - for the investiture or, beter yet, the entire weekend
Everything You Need to Know About the Event
Behind the Gala Event
The Organisation and Our Cause
A brief history...
The Order of Saint Stanislas was established on the feast of the Bishop and Martyr Saint Stanislas, on the 8th of May 1765, by King Stanislas II Augustus Poniatowski, the last native king of the Commonwealth of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
After the third and last partition of the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, between Russia, Austria and Prussia, the Order of Saint Stanislas fell into abeyance.
As a result of Napoleon’s victories, and freed from occupation, the central area of Poland was created into the ‚Duchy of Warsaw‘ under Frederick Augustus I King of Saxony, who became the second Grand Master, renewing the bestowal of the Order of Saint Stanislas. He added a second white stripe to the border of the sash.
Czar Alexander I, as the third Grand Master of the Order divided the Order into four classes and the condition to receive a higher class was to have already received a lower class. With the Russian Revolution, Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in March 1917. The Order of Saint Stanislas once again fell into abeyance.
On the 9th of June in 1979, the Order of Saint Stanislas was re-established by Juliusz Nowina-Sokolnicki one of the two former legitimate Polish Governments in Exile, which was based in London.
The aim of the revived Order was to engage in philanthropic work both locally, as well as for those effected by the political situation in Poland.
Since 2018 His Royal and Imperial Highness Sandor Habsburg-Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Prince of Tuscany etc.etc., accepted the function of Royal Protector.
The Order today...
The Order continues its humanitarian mission to aid the less fortunate, and to promote culture and tradition in all the regions it exists throughout the world.
The Priory of Scotland was founded 2022, as part of the Grand Priory of the United Kingdom, and, in turn, the wider International Organisation based in Austria. Since that time it has attracted new members, participated in or led several social initiatives, and distributed charitable donations to many local charities.
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The Impact We Make
Join Us to Celebrate and Fund Essential Programs That Transform Lives and Create Lasting Impact
The Scottish Priory, like the Order as a whole exists to turn fellowship into practical good - quietly, consistently, and with an emphasis on outcomes rather than ceremony. We raise and steward funds through Priory activity and public-facing representation, and we direct that support where it will make a clear difference, whether to local needs in Scotland or to the wider charitable aims of the Order. Recent examples include the collection and distribution of over 200 toys to young people and families in need over the 2025 Christmas period; the creation of saleable products for representational stalls at markets and Christmas fayres to raise funds and awareness; donations to the Red Squirrel Initiative in support of conservation; managerial oversight of a food bank in Dumfries to sustain day-to-day provision and oarcels for needy young mothers with infants; and grants supporting the Order’s wider charitable work, including the Grand Prior’s recent drive to assist with rebuilding in Grenada.
