Royal Order of Victoria and Albert

The Royal Order of Victoria and Albert is a British Royal Family Order instituted on 10 February 1862^[1] by Queen Victoria, and enlarged on 10 October 1864, 15 November 1865, and 15 March 1880. No award has been made since the death of Queen Victoria.

Royal Order of Victoria and Albert
The four grades of the Order
Awarded by Queen Victoria
Type	Royal Family Order
Country	United Kingdom
Ribbon	White
Eligibility	Female members of the British royal family and female courtiers
Criteria	At Her Majesty's pleasure
Status	Defunct; not awarded since the death of Queen Victoria
Post-nominals	VA
Ribbon of the Order

Portrait of Queen Victoria at her Golden Jubilee, wearing the Sovereign's badge of the Order

The German Empress Victoria wearing the Order, along with the Prussian Order of Louise (also an order only for women)

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, 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.

Recipients

• 1863 Alexandra, Princess of Wales
• Elizabeth Biddulph, Baroness Biddulph (Woman of the Bedchamber)^[2]
• The Countess of Mount Edgcumbe^{[clarification needed]} (Lady of the Bedchamber)^[3]
• Jane Spencer, Baroness Churchill (Lady of the Bedchamber)^[4]
• 1889: Hariot Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava^[5]
• Edith Bulwer-Lytton, Countess of Lytton^[6]

a full list of recipients is published on pages 37–41 of Royal Service Volume 2^[7]

Sources

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

See also

• Royal Family Order of George IV
• Royal Family Order of Edward VII
• Royal Family Order of George V
• Royal Family Order of George VI
• Royal Family Order of Elizabeth II
• Royal Family Order of Charles III
• List of awards honoring women