Royal Victorian Order - Creation

Creation

Prior to the close of the 19th century, most general honours within the British Empire were bestowed by the sovereign on the advice of his or her British ministers, who sometimes forwarded advice from ministers of the Crown in the Dominions and colonies (appointments to the then most senior orders of chivalry— the Most Noble Order of the Garter and the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle— had been made on ministerial advice since the 18th century and were not restored to the personal gift of the sovereign until 1946 and 1947, respectively). Queen Victoria thus established on 21 April 1896 the Royal Victorian Order as a junior and personal order of knighthood that allowed her to bestow directly to an empire-wide community honours for personal services. The organization was founded a year preceding Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, so as to give the Queen time to complete a list of first inductees. The order's official day was made 20 June of each year, marking the anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession to the throne.

After 1931, when the Statute of Westminster came into being and the Dominions of the British Empire became independent states, equal in status to Britain, the Royal Victorian Order remained an honour open to all the King's realms; thus, as with the monarch who conferred it, the order ceased to be purely British. The order was also open to foreigners since its inception, the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes and the Mayor of Nice being the first to receive the honour in 1896.