Order of Merit "KMS", and the Order of Artistic Merit for Knights of Merit in Art, with the post-nominal letters "KMA". However, Sir Frederic Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, advised against the new order, primarily because of its selection process. Victoria's son, King Edward VII, eventually founded the Order of Merit on 26 June 1902 (the date for which his coronation had been originally planned) as a means to acknowledge "exceptionally meritorious service in Our Navy and Our Army, or who may have rendered exceptionally meritorious service towards the advancement of Art, Literature and Science". All modern aspects of the order were
Order of Merit (Ukraine) decoration of independent Ukraine. The Honorary Award was instituted by Ukrainian president Leonid Kravchuk on August 18, 1992. On September 22, 1996, it was transformed into three classes of the Order of Merit. Recipients of the Honorary Award of the President of Ukraine are considered to be equal to the recipients of the Order of Merit and they are recognised as holders of the Order of Merit 3rd Class retaining the right to wear decorations that have been granted. Granting the Honorary Award of the President of Ukraine was discontinued following the institution of the Order of Merit. Awards to