Royal Victorian Order

"CVO" redirects here. For other uses, see CVO (disambiguation).

Queen Victoria founded the Royal Victorian Order.

The Royal Victorian Order is an order of chivalry that was established by Queen Victoria on 21 April 1896. The Order includes five classes, in order of seniority:

1. Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GCVO)
2. Knight Commander or Dame Commander (KCVO or DCVO)
3. Commander (CVO)
4. Lieutenant (LVO)
5. Member (MVO)

Membership is conferred on those who performed personal service for the Sovereign. People are appointed to the Order rather than awarded it.

The Order's day is 20 June, the date of Queen Victoria's accession. The motto is Victoria. The Order is the second-most junior order of chivalry in the British honours system (in terms of both age and precedence), senior only to The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The Order is the fourth-most senior order in the Canadian honours system, senior only to the Order of St. John.

History

The Order was created at a time when most general honours were bestowed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister and other ministers. The Royal Victorian Order, however, has always been within the personal gift of the Sovereign. The two most senior British orders of chivalry—The Most Noble Order of the Garter and The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle—were always within the Sovereign's personal gift, since medieval times, and were limited by ancient regulation to a combined 40 commoner-members—a very exclusive and very distinguished list. The creation of this junior—and personal—Order of Knighthood allowed the Sovereign to bestow honours directly for personal service to a much wider community world-wide, at a time when the British Empire was at its zenith.

It is no coincidence that the Order was established a year before Queen Victoria celebrated her Diamond Jubillee (60th anniversary of her accession)—the year gave Her Majesty the opportunity to put together her first lists of recipients.

The Order is the most complicated and varied in its different levels of seniority, giving the Sovereign a unique range from which to recognise the most junior and obscure service, wherever it arises.

Composition

The Monarch is the Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all other members of the Order. The next-most senior member of the Order is the Grand Master. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was Grand Master since the creation of the office in 1937 until her death in 2002. The Queen appointed her daughter Anne, the Princess Royal to the office as Grand Master in 2007. [1]

Formerly, Lieutenants and Members of the Order were known as Members (fourth class) and Members (fifth class), respectively. The name change was made in 1984. The Royal Victorian Order's membership is not subject to any numerical limits. Women have been eligible for membership since 1936. Foreigners may be admitted to the Order as "honorary members." Normally, honorary memberships are bestowed by the Sovereign during his or her visits overseas.

The Royal Victorian Medal was instituted at the same time as the Order. It, too, is awarded for personal services to the Sovereign. It is awarded in three classes: Gold, Silver and Bronze. There is a separate Royal Victorian Chain, which is unrelated to the Order; it was instituted in 1902 by Edward VII.

The Order has five officials: the Chancellor, the Secretary, the Registrar, the Chaplain and the Genealogist. The Lord Chamberlain serves as Chancellor, the Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the Queen serves as Secretary, the Secretary to the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood serves as Registrar and the Chaplain of The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy serves as Chaplain.

Vestments and accoutrements

Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear an elaborate costume on important occasions, such as quadrennial services and coronations:

• The mantle is a dark blue satin robe, edged with red satin. On the left side is a representation of the star (see below).
• The collar, also worn only by Knights and Dames Grand Cross, is made of gold. It consists of octagonal pieces alternating with oblong frames. Each octagonal piece depicts a gold rose on a blue field. Each frame contains one of the following inscriptions: "Victoria," "Britt. Reg." (Queen of the Britains), "Def. Fid." (Defender of the Faith) and "Ind. Imp." (Empress of India). In the centre is a medallion bearing Victoria's effigy.This collar is not to be confused with the Royal Victorian Chain which is a decoration that is not a part of the Royal Victorian Order.

Other insignia are:

• The star is only worn by the Knights and Dames Grand Cross and the Knights and Dames Commanders. It is worn pinned to the left breast. For Knights and Dames Grand Cross the star is an eight-pointed silver star, with a white enamelled Maltese Cross at the centre; for Knights and Dames Commanders it is an eight-pointed silver Maltese Cross, with silver rays between the arms, and a smaller frosted silver Maltese Cross at the centre. In both cases the oval-shaped central medallion depicts Victoria's Royal and Imperial Cypher, "VRI" (Victoria Regina Imperatrice) on a red background, surrounded by a crown-surmounted blue ring bearing the motto of the Order.

Ribbon of the Royal Victorian Order

• The badge is the only insignia used by all members of the Order; it is suspended on a blue ribbon with red-white-red edges. Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear it on a riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. Male Knight Commanders and Commanders wear the badge from a ribbon around the neck; male Lieutenants and Members wear it from a ribbon on the left chest; all female grades (other than Dames Grand Cross) wear it from a bow on the left shoulder. The badge is in the form of a Maltese Cross; on an oval-shaped central medallion, the same design that appears on the star is depicted. The size of the badges varies by rank: the higher classes have slightly larger badges. Lieutenants and Members have badges of the same size, but the badges of Lieutenants (and members of all higher classes) are enamelled, while the badges of Members are made of frosted silver.
• The Royal Victorian Medal shows Victoria's effigy on the obverse, and the words "Royal Victorial Medal" on a scroll beneath Victoria's Royal and Imperial Cypher on the reverse. It is worn in the same fashion as the badge: from a ribbon on the left chest in the case of men, and from a bow on the left shoulder in the case of women. Except for honorary awards, the ribbon is the same as the ribbon of the Order. Honorary awards of the Royal Victorian Medal may be made to foreigners and are denoted by a white stripe down the centre of the ribbon.

On certain "collar days" designated by the Sovereign, Knights and Dames Grand Cross attending formal events may wear the Order's collar over their military uniform or evening wear. When collars are worn (either on collar days or on formal occasions such as coronations), the badge is suspended from the collar. Collars are returned upon the death of their owners, but other insignia may be retained.

Chapel

The chapel of the Order since 1938 is The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, in central London - a Royal Peculiar. Every four years the Order holds a religious service in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle; St George's is used instead of Savoy because it can accommodate more people.

The Sovereign and the Knights and Dames Grand Cross are allotted stalls in the choir of the Chapel of the Savoy. To the back of the stall is affixed a piece of brass (a "stall plate") displaying its occupant's name, arms and date of admission into the Order. Upon the death of the occupant the stall plate is not removed and so the stalls of the chapel are festooned with a colourful record of the Order's Knights and Dames Grand Cross since 1938. There is insufficient room in the chapel for banners and other heraldic devices of the Knights and Dames Grand Cross to be displayed.

Precedence and privileges

Members of all classes of the Order are assigned positions in the order of precedence. Wives of male members of all classes also feature on the order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commanders; relatives of Dames, however, are not assigned any special precedence. (As a general rule, individuals can derive precedence from their fathers or husbands, but not from their mothers or wives.) (See order of precedence in England and Wales for the exact positions.)

Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commanders prefix "Sir," and Dames Grand Cross and Dames Commanders prefix "Dame," to their forenames. Wives of Knights may prefix "Lady" to their surnames, but no equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Dames. Such forms are not used by peers and princes, except when the names of the former are written out in their fullest forms. Furthermore, honorary members and clergymen do not use the accolade of knighthood. Retiring deans of St George's Chapel, Windsor, and Dean of Westminster Abbey, both Royal Peculiars, for example, are customarily awarded KCVO.

Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the post-nominal letters "GCVO," Knights Commanders "KCVO," Dames Commanders "DCVO," Commanders "CVO," Lieutenants "LVO" and Members "MVO." (When Lieutenants were known as Members of the Fourth Class, they also used "MVO." This was confusing because it was not immediately apparent whether a person was an MVO Class IV or an MVO Class V, thus affecting the order of post-nominals. On 31st December 1984 The Queen declared that the MVO Class IV would henceforth be Lieutenants, with the post-nominals "LVO".) Recipients of the Royal Victorian Medal use "RVM."

Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to receive heraldic supporters. They may, furthermore, encircle their arms with a depiction of the circlet (a circle bearing the motto) and the collar; the former is shown either outside or on top of the latter. Knights and Dames Commanders and Commanders may display the circlet, but not the collar, surrounding their arms. The badge is depicted suspended from the collar or circlet.

Revocation

• Anthony Blunt, a former Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures, was stripped of his knighthood in 1979 after it was revealed that he had been a spy
• William Pottinger, a senior civil servant, lost both his Order of the Bath and Royal Victorian Order in 1975 when he was jailed for corruptly receiving gifts from the architect John Poulson.

See also

• Category:Grand Masters Royal Victorian Order
• Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
• Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
• Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order
• Category:Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order
• Category:Members of the Royal Victorian Order
• British honours system
• United Kingdom order of precedence
• Royal Victorian Chain
• Royal Victorian Medal
• List of people who have declined a British honour

References

• Cambridge University Heraldic and Genealogical Society. (2002). "The Royal Victorian Order."
• Debrett's Limited. (2004). "The Royal Victorian Order."
• "Knighthood and Chivalry." (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
• Velde, F. R. (2003). "Order of Precedence in England and Wales.