Investiture of President Karol Nawrocki as Grand Master of the Orders

The investiture of the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, as Grand Master of the two highest Polish civilian decorations, the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of Polonia Restituta. The ceremony took place on August 6, 2025, in the Great Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. At its core lies the idea of the continuity of the state and the “politics of memory” implemented by the presidency through the orders.

The Castle, once the residence of kings, now speaks to the imagination as a tangible witness to Poland’s continuity, deliberately destroyed during the war and rebuilt as a declaration of the values Poles consider most precious, reminding modern Poland of its lineage. In the display cases gleam the historic insignia: the Chain of the Order of the White Eagle, crafted at the inspiration of King-elect Stanisław August for his coronation on November 25, 1764, and the exceptional Sword of the Order of the White Eagle, the ceremonial tool used to knight new members. In 1932, the Sejm called the Chain the “jewel of the Republic,” confirming its rank as the Badge of the Grand Master’s Dignity, which, by law, is held by the President of the Republic of Poland.

The Castle, once the residence of kings, now speaks to the imagination as a tangible witness to Poland’s continuity, deliberately destroyed during the war and rebuilt as a declaration of the values Poles consider most precious, reminding modern Poland of its lineage. In the display cases gleam the historic insignia: the Chain of the Order of the White Eagle, crafted at the inspiration of King-elect Stanisław August for his coronation on November 25, 1764, and the exceptional Sword of the Order of the White Eagle, the ceremonial tool used to knight new members. In 1932, the Sejm called the Chain the “jewel of the Republic,” confirming its rank as the Badge of the Grand Master’s Dignity, which, by law, is held by the President of the Republic of Poland.

The ceremony has not only a symbolic dimension but also a clear foundation in law. The Chancellor of the Order of the White Eagle, Prof. Michał Kleiber, reads the proclamation: in accordance with Article 23(2) of the Act of October 16, 1992, on orders and decorations, the newly elected President becomes the sixteenth Grand Master of the Order of the White Eagle. After the proclamation is read, the ceremony reaches its climax with the symbolic assumption of authority over the orders and the signing of the investiture protocols.

The insignia displayed in the hall speaks its own language. The Chain of the Order of the White Eagle, the “jewel of the Republic,” signifies responsibility for tradition and its continuity. The Sword, with which the king once knighted members, reminds us that honour is not merely decoration, it is an obligation. In the ceremony’s script, these two objects complete the meaning of the event: authority over the orders is, in essence, the acceptance of guardianship over the state’s memory.

In his address, President Karol Nawrocki places the event within the long timeline from the establishment of the Order of the White Eagle 320 years ago, through the drama of loss and rebirth after 1918, to the break in continuity after 1945 and its restoration after 1989. He names figures who shaped the modern imagination of solidarity and independence: Jan Olszewski, Anna Walentynowicz, Jan Józef Lipski, Aleksander Hall, St. John Paul II, and Joanna and Andrzej Gwiazdowie.

“The policy of orders,” as the President calls it, is part of the state’s policy of memory. Its aim is “to renew the sense of our national community around the identities from which we are built,” pointing to models worthy of emulation in social, political, sporting, and cultural life. This is a concise definition of the role of the state in the realm of symbols: to reward that which unites, to remind of that which obligates.

A key axis of the speech is the reference to Karolina Lanckorońska, who defined patriotism as “a sense of absolute belonging” and “the primacy of performing one’s duties toward the national community.” The President expands on this thought: the national community has been shaped for over a thousand years by Christian values, rooted in historical memory and in “the beautiful Polish language.” In this framework, the crowned White Eagle, the central motif of the Order of the White Eagle, becomes a living symbol of a bird that “soared toward Polish independence” and reminds us that “we are a strong, proud nation” aware of our identity.

The President does not make impossible promises, “not all great Poles can be decorated during my term,” but makes a clear appeal to the Chapters that in the next five years they honour with distinctions those “who feel absolute belonging to the homeland and primacy in serving the Republic of Poland.” This is a positive program and at the same time a criterion: a decoration is not an end in itself, but public recognition of service.

The conclusion of the address ties politics to classical Polish. A quotation from Jan Kochanowski is given, a crystallised civic ethic: “And if to heaven’s gate is open the way? For those who serve their homeland.” The rest, as the President reminds, “what envy takes away from them, God will reward.” In this allusion, there is more than literary erudition; it is the conviction that the most valuable rewards for service do not fit within a protocol, but within the moral order.

The investiture as Grand Master of the Order of the White Eagle and the Order of Polonia Restituta is a public confirmation that the head of state becomes the custodian of tradition from the First through the Second to the Third Republic, and that through the prism of the orders, the state recognises and elevates what cements the community. The Chain and the Sword, “two remarkable symbols of the orders’ past accompanying the investiture”, testify that the President is the heir to symbolic authority, which founds continuity, and to that which gives meaning to the present.

When the fanfares fade, the program remains: to decorate not for ornament, but for memory; not for vanity, but for community. And the call that closes it all with a clasp: “Long live Poland!”

The article is based on the authentic course of the ceremony and faithfully reflects its proceedings.

Wyspa TV Editorial Team