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 in 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. Every British Sovereign since Victoria has become Sovereign of the Order upon their accession to the throne. The Current Sovereign Elizabeth II has been Sovereign of the Order since 1952.

Recipients

List of recipients.

First Class

British Royal Family

• HI&RM The German Empress (formerly The Princess Royal)
• HRH Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (formerly The Princess Helena)
• HRH The Princess of Wales (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark)
• HRH The Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lorne
• HRH The Princess Beatrice (later Princess Henry of Battenberg)
• HI&RH The Duchess of Edinburgh (née Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia)
• 1879: HRH The Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn (née Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia)
• HRH The Duchess of Albany (née Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont)
• 1885: HRH Princess Louise of Wales (later Duchess of Fife)
• HRH Princess Victoria of Wales
• HRH Princess Maud of Wales
• HRH The Duchess of York (née Princess Mary of Teck)

Foreign

• HM The Queen of Denmark (Louise)
• HM The Queen of Hanover
• 1878: HM The Queen of the Belgians (Marie Henriette) (on the occasion of the Silver wedding of the King and Queen)
• HGDH Princess Louis of Battenberg (Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine)
• HM The Queen Regent of Spain (Maria Christina)

The four grades of the Order.

• HRH The Grand Duchess of Baden
• HI&RM The German Empress
• HM The Queen of Romania (Elisabeta)
• 1896: HIM The Empress of Russia
• 1898: HM The Queen of the Netherlands

Second Class

British Royal Family

• HRH Princess Marie of Edinburgh (Princess Ferdinand of Romania)
• HRH Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh
• HRH Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh
• HRH Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh
• HRH Princess Margaret of Connaught
• HRH Princess Alice of Albany

Foreign

• HIH Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia (formerly Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine)
• HRH The Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meinigen (formerly Princess Charlotte of Prussia)
• HRH Princess Henry of Prussia (formerly Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine)
• HRH Princess Adolphe of Schaumburg-Lippe (formerly Princess Viktoria of Prussia)
• HGDH The Princess of Leiningen
• HH Princess Aribert of Anhalt (formerly Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein)
• HRH The Crown Princess of Greece (formerly Princess Sophie of Prussia)
• HRH Princess Frederick Charles of Hesse (formerly Princess Margaret of Prussia
• HH Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein
• HSH Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (later Queen of Spain)

Household

• The Countess of Mount Edgcumbe (Lady of the Bedchamber)^[2]
• The Lady Churchill (Lady of the Bedchamber)^[3]

Third Class

• The Dowager Duchess of Wellington
• The Dowager Lady Churchill
• The Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe
• The Lady Waterpark
• The Dowager Duchess of Atholl
• The Viscountess Clifden
• The Dowager Countess of Mayo
• The Dowager Countess of Erroll
• The Lady Abercromby
• The Lady Portman
• Caroline Augusta, The Countess of Mount-Edgcumbe
• Frances, Countess of Gainsborough
• The Dowager Lady Southampton
• The Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch
• The Viscountess Jocelyn
• 1880: Albertha, Duchess of Marlborough ("in recognition of her unremitting and invaluable exertions in mitigating the misery and distress in Ireland")
• The Dowager Duchess of Bedford
• 1881: The Dowager Duchess of Abercorn
• The Duchess of Roxburghe
• 1885: The Countess Spencer
• The Duchess of Buccleuch & Queensberry
• The Lady Ampthill
• 1889: The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava^[4]
• Viscountess Downe
• The Countess of Antrim
• 1892: The Marchioness of Salisbury
• The Marchioness of Lansdowne
• The Countess of Lytton
• Viscountess Chewton
• The Countess Cadogan

Fourth Class

• Hon Lady Hamilton-Gordon
• Edith Codrington, Lady Codrington
• Adelaide Biddulph, Baroness Biddulph
• Lady Elizabeth Phillipa Biddulph
• Hon Flora C.I. Macdonald
• Hon Mrs. Ferguson
• Hon Horatia C. F. Stopford
• Hon Emily Sarah Cathcart
• Lady Cust
• Hon Mrs Magdalen Wellesley
• Hon Lady Ponsonby
• Hon 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")
• Hon Harriet Lepel Phipps
• Hon Caroline Fanny Cavendish
• Mrs. Georgina Townshend Wilson
• Lady Cowell
• Hon Mrs. Mallett
• Hon. Mrs. Grant
• Hon. Ethel H. M. Cadogan
• Mrs. Helen Haughton

Sources

• Whitaker's Almanack, 1893
• British Imperial Calendar, 1900, 1902
• The Times

References

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