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    Royal Order of Victoria and Albert - part 2 Archived Message

    Posted by Nellie on February 13, 2012, 11:00 pm, in reply to "Royal Order of Victoria and Albert - part 1"


    From A&M -

    The Royal Order of Victoria and Albert was formally instituted by Queen Victoria on 10 February 1862 - her twenty-second wedding anniversary - as an order for female members of the royal family and ladies of the court in memory of the late Prince Consort. The Order was initially founded in one class. A second class was added in October 1864 and a third in November 1865. The insignia of the first two classes incorporated a cameo (in onyx for the first class and shell for the second) showing the conjoined profile heads of the Queen and Prince Albert, derived from William Wyon's Great Exhibition Medal of 1851. All badge cameos except one followed the design of the medal with the Queen's head in front of the Prince's. The cameo in the Queen's badge had the images reversed. In 1881 a new second class was instituted which required the original second and third classes to be demoted to third and fourth classes. This new class, also incorporating an onyx cameo in the badge, was primarily bestowed on the Queen's granddaughters. The Order lapsed in 1901.

    Before the formal creation of the Order, two badges identical to those which were later to be used in the first class were given by the Queen and Prince Albert to their eldest daughters, Victoria. the Princess Royal, and Princess Alice, on the occasion of their confirmations in 1856 and 1859 respectively. As such, they were the first badges in the new royal family order and followed the example of George IV in the establishment of an order for ladies of the royal family. These early examples of the family Order were subsumed within the new Order, which had a two-fold role - for the royal family and for service to the Queen.

    In all. twenty-four appointments were made to the first class, seventeen in the second class and thirty-four in the third class. Over the period twenty members of the Order died or were promoted in the Order, and where possible their badges were returned and in some instances reissued.

    VA9402 A&M p243 n316
    Queen Alexandra's badge displayed on its original white moiré ribbon.
    Queen Victoria presented the badge to Princess Alexandra of Denmark on the day before her wedding to the Prince of Wales, 9 March 1863. The Princess subsequently wore it on her wedding dress. [A&M]



    A&M p247 n315

    A&M p248 n317

    A&M p249 n319

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