Under the leadership of General Leo Kereselidze, a prominent military and political figure who had previously led the Union of Georgian Traditionalists while in exile, Prince Georges Matchabeli and Mikheil Tsereteli organized a Georgian Legion of 1,200 men in 1915 to fight alongside the Turkish Army in Transcaucasia.

The Legion itself created the "Insignia of the Saint Queen Tamar" as a military award in response to the valiant attitude and readiness to engage in combat displayed by the Georgian troops.

German Lieutenant Horst Schliephack created the emblem, and the ribbon featured the red and black that were then the country's official colors.

It was then given to Georgians living abroad as well as some members of the European royal families, including the Head of the House of Bourbon-Seville, Francisco de Borbón y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville, who was already a productive collaborator at the time, and the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, HIH Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich.

David Bagrationi of Mukhrani decided to fully reintegrate her into the Royal House of Georgia's equestrian heritage by giving it a new Constitutional Letter and granting some appointments.