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]
| Name | Dates | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, LG, LT, CI, GCVO, GBE, GCStJ, RRC, ONZ, CC, CD | 1937–2002 | [9] [10] | |
| The Princess Anne, Princess Royal, KG, KT, GCVO, GCStJ, ADC(P), QSO, CMM, CD, GCL | 2007–present | [11] |
| Name | Dates | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 1st Earl of Lathom, GCB, PC | 1896–1898 | ||
| The 7th Earl of Hopetoun, KT, GCVO, GCMG, PC (Later Marquess of Linlithgow) | 1898–1900 | ||
| The 5th Earl of Clarendon, GCB, GCVO, PC, DL | 1900–1905 | ||
| Colonel The 6th Earl Spencer, KG, GCVO, VD, PC | 1905–1912 | ||
| The 1st Viscount Sandhurst, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, PC | 1912–1921 | ||
| Brigadier General The 8th Duke of Atholl, KT, GCVO, CB, DSO, PC, ADC | 1921–1922 | ||
| The 2nd Earl of Cromer, GCB, GCIE, GCVO, PC, ADC | 1922–1938 | ||
| The 6th Earl of Clarendon, KG, GCMG, GCVO, PC, DL | 1938–1952 | ||
| Major General The 11th Earl of Scarbrough, KG, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, TD, PC, DL | 1952–1963 | ||
| The 1st Lord Cobbold, KG, GCVO, PC, DL | 1963–1971 | ||
| The Lord Maclean, KT, GCVO, KBE, PC | 1971–1984 | ||
| Captain The 13th Earl of Airlie, KT, GCVO, PC, JP | 1984–1997 | ||
| 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 |
| 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 | ||
| Lieutenant Colonel Sir William Carington, GCVO, KCB, PC, JP | 1910–1914 | ||
| Lieutenant Colonel Sir Frederick Ponsonby, GCB, GCVO, PC (later The Lord Sysonby) | 1914–1935 | ||
| Colonel The 1st Lord Wigram, GCB, GCVO, CSI, PC | 1935–1936 | ||
| Major Sir Alexander Hardinge, GCB, GCVO, MC, PC (later The 2nd Lord Hardinge of Penshurst) | 1936–1943 | ||
| Sir Ulick Alexander, GCB, GCVO, CMG, OBE | 1943–1952 | ||
| Brigadier The 2nd Lord Tyron, GCVO, KCB, DSO, DL | 1952–1971 | ||
| Major Sir Rennie Maudslay, GCVO, KCB, MBE | 1971–1987 | ||
| Sir Peter Miles, KCVO | 1981–1987 | ||
| Major Sir Shane Blewitt, GCVO | 1988–1996 | ||
| Sir Michael Peat, GCVO | 1996–2002 | [13] | |
| Sir Philip Alan Reid, GCVO | 2002–2017 | [14] | |
| Sir Michael Stevens, KCVO | 2017–present |
| Name | Dates | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir Francis Morgan Bryant, CB, CVO, CBE, ISO | 1916–1931 | ||
| Rear Admiral Philip John Hawkins Lander Row, CB, CVO | 1931–1932 | ||
| Commander Dudley Colles, KCB, KCVO, OBE | 1932–1936 | ||
| Major Sir Henry Hudson Fraser Stockley, KCVO, OBE | 1936–1946 | ||
| Brigadier Sir Ivan de la Bere, KCVO, CB, CBE | 1946–1960 | ||
| Major General Sir Cyril Harry Colquhoun, KCVO, CB, OBE | 1960–1968 | ||
| Major General Sir Peter Bernard Gillett, KCVO, CB, CBE | 1968–1979 | ||
| Major General Sir Desmond Hind Garrett Rice, KCVO, CBE | 1980–1991 | ||
| Lieutenant Colonel Walter Ross, GCVO, OBE, GCStJ, DL | 1989–1991 | ||
| Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Charles McClure Mather, CBE | 1991–1999 | [15] | |
| Lieutenant Colonel Robert Guy Cartwright | 1999–2005 | [16] | |
| Lieutenant Colonel Sir Alexander Fergus Matheson, Bt. | 2005–2014 | [17] | |
| Lieutenant Colonel James Vernon | 2014–2019 | [18] [19] | |
| Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Segrave | 2019–present | [20] |
| Name | Dates | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rev. Cyril Leonard Cresswell, KCVO | 1938–1961 | ||
| The Rev. Roger Lewis Roberts, CVO | 1961–1973 | ||
| The Rev. Cecil Edwin Young | 1973–1983 | ||
| The Rev. John Herbert Williams, LVO | 1983–1989 | ||
| The Rev. John Phillips Robson, LVO | 1989–2002 | [21] | |
| The Rev. Prebendary William Sievwright Scott, CVO | 2002–2007 | [22] | |
| The Rev. Prof. Peter John Galloway, LVO, OBE, KStJ, JP, FSA | 2008–2019 | [23] [24] | |
| The Rev. Thomas Woodhouse | 2019–present | [25] |
| Name | Dates | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Captain Alfred Butler, MVO, MC | 1938–1946 | [26] | |
| Squadron Leader Sir George Bellew, KCB, KCVO, KStJ | 1946–1960 | ||
| Major The 17th Lord Sinclair, LVO, DL | 1960–1968 | ||
| Sir Walter Verco, KCVO | 1968–1987 | ||
| Hubert Chesshyre, FSA, FHS | 1987–2010 | [27] | |
| David White, OStJ | 2010–present | [28] |