Order of Victoria and Albert

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. 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

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

Foreign

• The Queen of Denmark (Louise)
• The Queen of Hanover (Marie)
• 1878: The Queen of the Belgians (Marie Henriette) (on the occasion of the Silver wedding of the King and Queen)
• Princess Louis of Battenberg (Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine)
• The Queen Regent of Spain (Maria Christina)
• The Grand Duchess of Baden (Louise)
• The German Empress (Augusta Viktoria)
• The Queen of Romania (Elisabeta)
• 1896: The Empress of Russia (Alexandra)
• 1898: The Queen of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina)

Second Class

British Royal Family

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

Foreign

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

Household

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

Third Class

• The Duchess of Sutherland
• The Dowager Duchess of Wellington
• Dowager Lady Churchill
• The Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe
• Lady Waterpark
• The Dowager Duchess of Atholl
• Viscountess Clifden
• The Dowager Countess of Mayo
• The Dowager Countess of Erroll
• Lady Abercromby
• Lady Portman
• Caroline Augusta, The Countess of Mount-Edgcumbe
• Frances, Countess of Gainsborough
• Dowager Lady Southampton
• The Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch
• 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: Countess Spencer
• The Duchess of Buccleuch & Queensberry
• 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
• Countess Cadogan

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. Helen Haughton

Sources

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

References

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