On 15 September 1884, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin established the Order of the Griffin as a state order for Mecklenburg-Schwerin. It became a common state award with the other Mecklenburg state, the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, via agreement with Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich V of Mecklenburg-Strelitz dated 22/23 August 1904.
The Order of the Griffin became obsolete in 1918 with the end of the monarchy in Mecklenburg, as it was not retained by the new republican regimes in the Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Free State of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
In 1984 a registered association called the Knights Order of the Griffin (Ritterorden “Der Greif” e.v.) was established in Manneheim and claimed the legacy of the former Mecklenburg state Order of the Griffin.
The Grand Ducal House does not recognise this as successor to the former Mecklenburg state Order of the Griffin.