I see all these portriats of royalty wearing these diagonal Sashes across their chests. What do they mean?

Question

Sometimes the sash is red, other times blue. Both Kings and Queens have worn them. I guess princes too. Does red mean something that blue does'nt? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

It depends on which country's royals  you are referring to;in the UK there is the Order of the Garter(Garter Members wear burgundy,Royals wear either Burgundy with the official robes or the Garter blue riband and orders with evening dress or dress unform). I've also seen the British Royals wear blue sashes with the Royal Family Orders as well as the Garter Orders. There are many different orders, like The Order of the Thistle, the order of Saint Patrick, the Order of Merit;look at http://www.royal.gov/uk for information about Britain's orders (with pictures of each jeweled decoration. Or you can do a search at the site and they'll give you a link to an explanation of the Queen Mother's decorations). Another forum dedicated to Royalty of the world is at http://www.theroyalforums.com

Answer 2

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sash for a very complete answer.  It's pretty interesting!