The Order was founded by Admiral Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, after The First World War in 1920 and it was constitutionally established by Article 77 of the National Law XXXVI/1920. The aim of the founder was to reward high military virtue with land and thus create a stratum of loyal landowners. In order to secure continuity he granted admission to direct descendants of the members as "candidates" (várományos) on attaining their majority.
Regent M. Horthy, founder of the order with his son István
The principle of the Order of Vitéz is rooted in Hungarian history. King St. Steven I donated nobility and property to his war veterans, the medieval vitéz or "valiant". King Charles Robert I (of Anjou) founded the Order of St. George in 1326 on similar principles and later, in 1408 King Zsigmond (of Luxemburg) created the Order of the Dragon (Ordo Draconum) as a very limited Inner Court of Trustees. Regent Admiral Miklos Horthy used both these Orders as precursors and examples when he created the Order of Vitéz in 1920.
At the end of World War II over 20,000 members were on the Order's list. In 1948 the Soviet occupational forces insisted in banning the Order. This interdiction did not effect the concept and thus the original Order - de jure - continued to exist. After the death of Admiral Horthy in 1957, the first vitéz, HRH Marshal Jozsef Agost Habsburg was elected by The Grand Council as Grand Master in exile. At his request the Congress of Genealogy and Heraldry in Stockholm legalised the Order in 1990 and newly established the International Commission of Orders of Chivalry (ICOC) and listed the Order amongst the "Semi Independent Orders" of its Register. This encompassed some 600 vitéz living In Western Europe, North & South America and Australia
After the political changes of 1989 a delegation of the Order of Vitéz led by HRH Jozsef Árpád Habsburg, the grandson of the first vitéz, now Grand Master himself, with Lord Braine, Lt. Col. Patrick O'Kelly de Conejera of the ICOC, vitéz general Antal Radnoczy, vitéz Janos Szakaly and vitéz Andrew Zsigmond de Lemhény were received by the President of the Republic of Hungary Mr. Arpad Goencz, in the splendour of the House of Parliament to discuss the future of the Order in the new Hungary.
The chest medal of the Order - as seen above - is based on the national coat of arms behind a defending sword depicting a rising sun behind the Crown of St. Steven and supported by wheat-sheaf on the sinister and oak-leaves on the dexter. It is worn on the left side of a military or civilian jacket. The unofficial uniform of the Order is the Bocskai tunic with black braiding.
Invested with Miklos Horthy memorial medal (silver) by the Grand Captain Andras Varhelyi, 2004.
Appointed deputy Grand Captain for territories outside the Carpathian Basin on 1st December 2006.
The investiture ceremony of Andrew Zsigmond.