Royal Order of Victoria and Albert

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Royal Order of Victoria and Albert
De vier graden van de Koninklijke Orde van Victoria en Albert.jpg
The four grades of the Order
Awarded by The Sovereign, on the advice of Government
Type Order of Chivalry
Day NA
Eligibility Female members of the British Royal Family and female courtiers.
Awarded for A national order of chivalry
Status Defunct; not awarded since the death of Queen Victoria, 1901
Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II
Principal Commander Sovereign
Former grades NA
Statistics
Established 1862
First induction ND
Last induction ND
Total inductees ND
Distinct recipients ND
Precedence
Royal Order of Victoria and Albert - ribbon bar.gif
Ribbon of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert
Portrait of Queen Victoria at her Golden Jubilee, wearing the Sovereign's badge of the Order.
The German Empress Victoria wearing the Order, along with the Prussian Luise Order (also an order only for women)

The Royal Order of Victoria and Albert was a British Royal Family Order instituted on 10 February 1862[1] by Queen Victoria, and enlarged on 10 October 1864; 15 November 1865; and 15 March 1880. No awards were made after the death of Queen Victoria.

The order had four classes and was only granted to female members of the British Royal Family and female courtiers. For the first three classes, the badge consisted of a medallion of Queen Victoria and Albert, The Prince Consort, differing in the width and jewelling of the border as the classes descend, whilst the fourth substitutes a jewelled cipher. All four were surmounted by a crown, which was attached to a bow of white silk moiré ribbon. The honour conferred no rank or title upon the recipient, but recipients were entitled to use the post-nominal letters "VA".

The last holder of the Order, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, died in 1981. Like other British Orders which have fallen into disuse, it has never been formally abolished. Each British monarch since Victoria has become Sovereign of the Order upon accession to the throne. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, thus has been Sovereign of the Order since 1952.

Recipients

List of recipients.

First Class

British Royal Family

Foreign

Second Class

British Royal Family

Foreign

Household

Third Class

Fourth Class

  • Lady Hamilton-Gordon
  • Edith Codrington, Lady Codrington
  • Adelaide Biddulph, Baroness Biddulph
  • Lady Elizabeth Phillipa Biddulph
  • Flora C.I. Macdonald
  • Hon Mrs. Ferguson
  • Hon Horatia C. F. Stopford
  • Hon Emily Sarah Cathcart
  • Lady Cust
  • Mrs Magdalen Wellesley
  • Lady Ponsonby
  • Ina Erskine McNeill (Duchess of Argyll)
  • 1889: Lady Geraldine Somerset ("as a mark of appreciation of her long and devoted service to the Duchess of Cambridge")
  • Harriet Lepel Phipps
  • Caroline Fanny Cavendish
  • Mrs. Georgina Townshend Wilson
  • Lady Cowell
  • Hon. Mrs. Mallett
  • Hon. Mrs. Grant
  • Ethel H. M. Cadogan
  • Mrs. John Haughton

Sources

References

  1. British Imperial Calendar, 1900
  2. "Obituary" (Obituary). The Times (London). Friday, 4 November 1881. (30343), col F, p. 16.
  3. "The Dowager Lady Churchill" (Obituaries). The Times (London). Wednesday, 26 December 1900. (36335), col E, p. 3.
  4. "Court Circular" (Court and Social). The Times (London). Monday, 28 January 1889. (32607), col F, p. 9.