The embroidered star of an English order of Knighthood, with radiating silver rays, topped with a white Maltese cross and royal cypher in the centre
The star of a Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

The Royal Victorian Order is an order of knighthood awarded by the sovereign of the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth realms. It is granted personally by the monarch and recognises personal service to the monarchy, the Royal Household, royal family members, and the organisation of important royal events.[1][2] The order was officially created and instituted on 23 April 1896 by letters patent under the Great Seal of the Realm by Queen Victoria.[3] The order has had five grades since its institution, the two highest of which confer the status of knighthood on holders (apart from foreigners, who typically received honorary awards not entitling them to the style of a knight).[4][5][6] Women were not admitted until Edward VIII altered the statutes of the order in 1936.[7] The order has five statutory officers—Grand Master, Chancellor, Secretary, Registrar and Chaplain—as well as a non-statutory Honorary Genealogist.

The order has had a chancellor and a secretary since it was founded; the former office is held ex officio by the Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household, while the office of secretary has been held ex officio by the Keeper of the Privy Purse (except for the years 1936 to 1943 when the King's Private Secretary was also the order's secretary). The order has had a registrar since 1916; the first appointee was the Secretary of the Private Secretary's Office, Sir Francis Morgan Bryant, while his two successors were Secretaries to the Privy Purse; since 1936, the Registrar has always been the Secretary of the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. On 1 February 1937, King George VI appointed his Queen, Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) as the order's inaugural Grand Master; after her death in 2002, the office fell vacant until Elizabeth II appointed her daughter, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Grand Master. The Savoy Chapel was made the order's chapel in 1938 and its chaplain has also been ex officio the order's chaplain ever since. Since 1938, the order has also had an Honorary Genealogist, who has also been an Officer of Arms, although appointees are not technically officers of the order, there being no provision for it in the statutes.[8]

Grand Masters

Name Dates Ref.
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, LG, LT, CI, GCVO, GBE 1937–2002 [9][10]
The Princess Royal, KG, KT, GCVO, GCStJ, QSO, CD 2007–present [11]

Chancellors

Name Dates Ref.
The 1st Earl of Lathom, GCB, PC 1896–1898 [9]
The 7th Earl of Hopetoun, KT, GCVO, GCMG, PC (Later Marquess of Linlithgow) 1898–1900 [9]
The 5th Earl of Clarendon, GCB, GCVO, PC, DL 1900–1905 [9]
Colonel The 6th Earl Spencer, KG, GCVO, VD, PC 1905–1912 [9]
The 1st Viscount Sandhurst, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, PC 1912–1921 [9]
Brigadier General The 8th Duke of Atholl, KT, GCVO, CB, DSO, PC, ADC 1921–1922 [9]
The 2nd Earl of Cromer, GCB, GCIE, GCVO, PC, ADC 1922–1938 [9]
The 6th Earl of Clarendon, KG, GCMG, GCVO, PC, DL 1938–1952 [9]
Major General The 11th Earl of Scarbrough, KG, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, TD, PC, DL 1952–1963 [9]
The 1st Lord Cobbold, KG, GCVO, PC, DL 1963–1971 [9]
The Lord Maclean, QC, PC 1971–1984 [9]
Captain The 13th Earl of Airlie, KT, GCVO, PC, JP 1984–1997 [9]
The 7th Lord Camoys, GCVO, PC, DL 1998–2000
The Lord Luce, KG, GCVO, PC, DL 2000–2006
The 3rd Earl Peel, GCVO, PC, DL 2006–2021
The Lord Parker of Minsmere, GCVO, KCB, PC 2021–present

Secretaries

Name Dates Ref.
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Fleetwood Edwards, GCVO, KCB, ISO 1896–1901 [12]
General Sir Dighton Probyn, VC, GCB, GCSI, GCVO, ISO, PC 1901–1910 [12]
Lieutenant Colonel Sir William Carington, GCVO, KCB, PC, JP 1910–1914 [12]
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Frederick Ponsonby, GCB, GCVO, PC (later The Lord Sysonby) 1914–1935 [12]
Colonel The 1st Lord Wigram, GCB, GCVO, CSI, PC 1935–1936 [12]
Major Sir Alexander Hardinge, GCB, GCVO, MC, PC (later The 2nd Lord Hardinge of Penshurst) 1936–1943 [12]
Sir Ulick Alexander, GCB, GCVO, CMG, OBE 1943–1952 [12]
Brigadier The 2nd Lord Tyron, GCVO, KCB, DSO, DL 1952–1971 [12]
Major Sir Rennie Maudslay, GCVO, KCB, MBE 1971–1987 [12]
Sir Peter Miles, KCVO 1981–1987 [12]
Major Sir Shane Blewitt, GCVO 1988–1996 [12]
Sir Michael Peat, GCVO 1996–2002 [12][13]
Sir Philip Alan Reid, GCVO 2002–2017 [14]
Sir Michael Stevens, KCVO 2017–Present

Registrars

Name Dates Ref.
Sir Francis Morgan Bryant, CB, CVO, CBE, ISO 1916–1931 [12]
Rear Admiral Philip John Hawkins Lander Row, CB, CVO 1931–1932 [12]
Commander Dudley Colles, KCB, KCVO, OBE 1932–1936 [12]
Major Sir Henry Hudson Fraser Stockley, KCVO, OBE 1936–1946 [15]
Brigadier Sir Ivan de la Bere, KCVO, CB, CBE 1946–1960 [15]
Major General Sir Cyril Harry Colquhoun, KCVO, CB, OBE 1960–1968 [15]
Major General Sir Peter Bernard Gillett, KCVO, CB, CBE 1968–1979 [15]
Major General Sir Desmond Hind Garrett Rice, KCVO, CBE 1980–1991 [15]
Lieutenant Colonel Walter Ross, GCVO, OBE, GCStJ, DL 1989–1991 [15]
Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Charles McClure Mather, CBE 1991–1999 [15][16]
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Guy Cartwright 1999–2005 [17]
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Alexander Fergus Matheson, Bt. 2005–2014 [18]
Lieutenant Colonel James Vernon 2014–2019 [19][20]
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Segrave 2019–present [21]

Chaplains

Name Dates Ref.
Rev. Cyril Leonard Cresswell, KCVO 1938–1961 [15]
Rev. Roger Lewis Roberts, CVO 1961–1973 [15]
Rev. Cecil Edwin Young 1973–1983 [15]
Rev. John Herbert Williams, LVO 1983–1989 [15]
Rev. John Phillips Robson, LVO 1989–2002 [15][22]
Rev. Prebendary William Sievwright Scott, CVO 2002–2007 [23]
Rev. Prof. Peter John Galloway, LVO, OBE, KStJ, JP, FSA 2008–2019 [24][25]
Rev. Thomas Woodhouse 2019–present [26]

Honorary Genealogists

Name Dates Ref.
Captain Alfred Butler, MVO, MC 1938–1946 [15]
Squadron Leader Sir George Bellew, KCB, KCVO, KStJ 1946–1960 [15]
Major The 17th Lord Sinclair, LVO, DL 1960–1968 [15]
Sir Walter Verco, KCVO 1968–1987 [15]
Hubert Chesshyre, FSA FHS 1987–2010 [15][27]
David White 2010–present [28]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ "Royal Victorian Order", The British Monarchy (accessed 16 August 2014)
  2. ↑ "Royal Victorian Order", The Governor-General of Canada (accessed 16 August 2014)
  3. ↑ The London Gazette, issue 26733, p. 2455
  4. ↑ McCreery, 2008, p. 29
  5. ↑ Honorary Knighthood Archived 2015-03-16 at the Wayback Machine, Debrett's (accessed on 20 August 2014)
  6. ↑ Knighthood, The British Monarchy (accessed on 20 August 2014)
  7. ↑ Duckers, 2004, p. 38
  8. ↑ Galloway, 1996, pp. 63–65.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Galloway, 1996, p. 63.
  10. ↑ "The Queen Mother's Funeral: Funeral Service", BBC News, 9 April 2002. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Orders of Chivalry", College of St George. Archived from the original at the Internet Archive on 19 February 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Galloway, 1996, p. 64.
  13. ↑ "Peat, Sir Michael (Charles Gerrard)", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "Reid, Sir (Philip Alan)", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Galloway, 1996, p. 65.
  16. ↑ "Mather, Lt-Col Anthony Charles Mcclure", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  17. ↑ "Cartwright, Lt-Col. Robert Guy", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  18. ↑ "Matheson of Matheson, Lt Colonel Sir Alexander Fergus", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  19. ↑ "The Royal Mint Advisory Committee" (Cabinet Office). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  20. ↑ "Royal Victorian Order", The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  21. ↑ The Court Circular, 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  22. ↑ "Robson, Rev. John Phillips", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  23. ↑ "Scott, Rev. Preb. William Sievwright", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  24. ↑ "Galloway, Rev. Dr Peter John", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2017). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  25. ↑ The Times, 27 November 2019.
  26. ↑ Savoy Chapel team.
  27. ↑ "September 2010 Newsletter" (College of Arms, Newsletter No. 26, 27 September 2010). Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  28. ↑ "June 2010 Newsletter" (College of Arms, Newsletter No. 25, 28 June 2010). Retrieved 9 December 2017.

Bibliography

  • P. Duckers (2004), British Orders and Decorations (Princes Risborough: Shire Publications Ltd, ISBN 0-7478-0580-6)
  • P. Galloway, D. Stanley, D. Martin (1996), Royal Service, volume 1 (London: Victorian Publishing, ISBN 0-9528527-0-5)
  • C. McCreery (2008), On Her Majesty's Service: Royal Honours and Recognition in Canada (Toronto: Dundurn Press; ISBN 1-77070-282-2)
  • W. M. Shaw (1906), The Knights of England, volume i (London: Sherratt and Hughes; OCLC 185192520)
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