Order of the Elephant current form on 1 December 1693 by King Christian V as having only one class consisting of only 30 noble knights in addition to the Grand Master (i.e., the king) and his sons. The statutes of the order were amended in 1958 by a Royal Ordinance so that both men and women could be members of the order. The elephant and castle design derives from an elephant carrying a howdah, the familiar castle replacing the unfamiliar howdah, and finds use elsewhere in European iconography, as discussed at howdah. The Danish monarch is the head of the order. The members of
Seeing the elephant Trail period was over. This downbeat view of the elephant due to its connections with the trails more grievous moments is likely what has given the 20th-century historians the opinion that the elephant was mostly a bad experience. The pessimism of the phrase retained this trait throughout much of its historiography. All narratives reveal trials, but not all trials are written in conjunction with the elephant. The mythic animal was more than just a term for an ordeal. It was an expression for a tribulation that was ironic or directly followed excitement of some kind. John Lewis' journal entry in