The Royal Family Order (RFO) and other Royal Orders and Decorations 1: Ending 2022


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Princess Marina actually wore the RFO of her father-in-law George V on her wedding day (image).
 
That is a good question. Red means I am not sure (from pictures) they received one.

Edward VII's royal daughters (in law):
The Princess Louise, Princess Royal
The Princess Victoria
The Princess Maud (later Queen of Norway)

Princess Mary of Teck (spouse of the later King George V)

Edward VII's royal granddaughters (in law):
Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife
Princess Maud (later Countess of Southesk)
Princess Märtha of Sweden (later Queen of Norway)

George V's royal daughters (in law):
The Princess Mary, Princess Royal
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
(spouse to the later King George VI)
Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott
(spouse of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester)
Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (spouse of Prince George, Duke of Kent)

George V's royal granddaughters (in law):
Princess Alexandra of Kent
Birgitte van Deurs
(spouse to Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester)
Hon. Katharine Worsley
(spouse to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent)
Marie-Christine Freiin von Reibnitz
(spouse to Prince Michael of Kent)

George VI's royal daughters:
The Princess Elizabeth
The Princess Margaret


Elizabeth II's royal daughters (in law):
The Princess Anne, Princess Royal
Lady Diana Spencer (spouse of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales)
Camilla Shand (spouse of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales)
Sarah Ferguson (spouse of Prince Andrew, Duke of York)
Sophie Rhys-Jones (spouse of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex)

Elizabeth II's royal granddaughters (in law):
Princess Beatrice of York
Princess Eugenie of York
Catherine Middleton (spouse to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge)
 
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Beatrice and Eugenie are Grandaughters not 'in-laws'..
 
Beatrice and Eugenie are Grandaughters not 'in-laws'..

It says Granddaughters (in law) which means either the one or the other.

Like "The Heir (Heiress) to the throne" or "The host (hostess) of the event".
 
There are some missing George v daughter in laws - I believe the duchess of York ( future Queen Mum) and Alice Duchess of Gloucester) both had RFO's from George V. Princess Margaret also had one from her grandfather. All three plus Marina Duchess of Kent had RFOs from George VI and Elizabeth. Plus the Queen gave RFOs to current Duchesses of Kent and Gloucester.

Basically almost every one marrying into the royal family received a RFO except Princess Michael, Fergie and Kate.

Kate will get one most likely from her father in law, definitely from her husband and son if she outlives William. From the Queen, it remains to be seen.


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Guys, Catherine will gain 3 Royal Family Order's; Elizabeth II, Charles III, and William V.
 
Guys, Catherine will gain 3 Royal Family Order's; Elizabeth II, Charles III, and William V.

She will also likely get GCVO and Order of the Garter - she wont be short on orders/honours in her lifetime. Even if she doesn't receive the Elizabeth II order, she will have two orders to pin on her dresses when she needs to wear them.

It's likely that Anne, Camilla and Sophie will all receive the Charles III order at some point too, so all the women get their share of badges and such; they aren't short on things to wear to state banquets.

I would like to think that the Queen has given her grand-daughters the family order, even if they will never actually be seen wearing them, except perhaps at her funeral if it's appropriate?

Does anyone know if Beatrice, Eugnie, Zara (and Louise) have the Diamond Jubilee medal? Did the male grandchildren receive the medal? I know we've seen William and Harry wearing it but do Peter and James also receive it?
 
They all have the Jubilee Medal/s - along with millions of other people. It is no biggy as it was given to anyone serving in the military, police, prison service with five years service along with a number of other people. I have a cousin who has both the Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals because he sang in the choir at the official services (his father had the 1937 and 1953 Coronation medals for the same reasons).
 
She will also likely get GCVO and Order of the Garter - she wont be short on orders/honours in her lifetime. Even if she doesn't receive the Elizabeth II order, she will have two orders to pin on her dresses when she needs to wear them.

It's likely that Anne, Camilla and Sophie will all receive the Charles III order at some point too, so all the women get their share of badges and such; they aren't short on things to wear to state banquets.

I would like to think that the Queen has given her grand-daughters the family order, even if they will never actually be seen wearing them, except perhaps at her funeral if it's appropriate?

Does anyone know if Beatrice, Eugnie, Zara (and Louise) have the Diamond Jubilee medal? Did the male grandchildren receive the medal? I know we've seen William and Harry wearing it but do Peter and James also receive it?

Yeah, I know she won't be short of orders. I'm just saying that she'll have 3 RFO's along with knighthoods. She's gonna get the Elizabeth II Order, because she has served under her reign. She should have it by the new year.
 
One thing I think we do have to keep in mind also that it is very possible Kate does have the RFO already and just wasn't wearing it for that state dinner. Its possible. ;)
 
One thing I think we do have to keep in mind also that it is very possible Kate does have the RFO already and just wasn't wearing it for that state dinner. Its possible. ;)

I'm sorry but I cant agree. If you have this honour then you wear it. And you certainly wear it at a State Banquet.

It would be insulting to HMQ not to wear it.

Catherine will get it without a doubt.

It seems to me that lots of "fans" want the young royals to have everything NOW!! HMQ doesn't work like that. She does reward hard work or special efforts. She knows that Charles will want to give the Garter to Harry, but she commends him for his Invictus work another way. She commends Catherine by the loan of personal jewels.

How she does it is her decision as Sovereign. And as a Brit I have to say that criticising her in comparison to other RFs I find appalling. All credit to Marg in her earlier post which sums up how I feel.
 
That is a good question. Red means I am not sure (from pictures) they received one.


George V's royal granddaughters (in law):

Birgitte van Deurs
(spouse to Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester)
Hon. Katharine Worsley
(spouse to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent)
Marie-Christine Freiin von Reibnitz
(spouse to Prince Michael of Kent)

Just to nit pick. I don't believe any of these ladies would have a GV or GVI RFO because both died decades before they came into the family.:flowers:
 
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HRH Princess Alice , countess of Athlone still holds the record with the royal family order . She held 5 at the time of her death.

1.) the Victoria family order
2.) EVII
3.) GV
4.) GVI
5.) EII

THere is a story that after her mother died , HRH Princess Alice upgraded herself to the Class I V&A family order , rather than the class II she had originally been bestowed .
It could be apocryphal .


You can find pictures of her wearing all 5, but they are hard to make out in most bc they are layered .

As she got older it looks as if she cut down to 2-3 for most occasions (not counting her other orders ) she wore in addition.




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I think that when Kate will have her order she will wear it as the first occasion presented to her. I don't see why some people/fans/royal watchers want Kate to have the order now at all costs and find excuses for her no to wear it... Maybe she is going to sport the oder in December if she has received it by that time. I doubt we'll see clear shots though.
 
It's not about wanting Catherine to have the order now. It's just I know the window of her getting the RFO is now open giving the amount of time she's been a senior working royal. 4 to nearly 5 years is pretty much the mark.
 
It's not about wanting Catherine to have the order now. It's just I know the window of her getting the RFO is now open giving the amount of time she's been a senior working royal. 4 to nearly 5 years is pretty much the mark.

I don't believe Catherine is a "senior working royal". She is a senior royal yes, in terms of precedence and such, but she is not a full time working royal. Her number of engagements reflect this. Yes she is technically on "maternity leave", however during the years she was not pregnant she was not a full time working royal. The RFO is given to "full time working royals" of which Catherine is not. Although she's been married for nearly 5 years and provided 2 heirs, that does not make her a full time royal. Sophie had been married for 5 years, gave the Queen a grandchild and she only received her RFO two years after become a full time royal.

I am not disputing that Catherine does not work; all I am saying is there's more to it than just being married and providing heirs.
 
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Everyone can relax. One day Catherine will have just about every order in the realm.

I can't wait for the day I see her in her Garter robes
 
I'm sorry but I cant agree. If you have this honour then you wear it. And you certainly wear it at a State Banquet.

It would be insulting to HMQ not to wear it.

Catherine will get it without a doubt.

It seems to me that lots of "fans" want the young royals to have everything NOW!! HMQ doesn't work like that. She does reward hard work or special efforts. She knows that Charles will want to give the Garter to Harry, but she commends him for his Invictus work another way. She commends Catherine by the loan of personal jewels.

How she does it is her decision as Sovereign. And as a Brit I have to say that criticising her in comparison to other RFs I find appalling. All credit to Marg in her earlier post which sums up how I feel.
I agree with this. But am I the only one that realizes that the Queen might not have all the time in the world to wait with giving out orders? I mean... if I was the Queen I would rather be safe than sorry and give it now. But I guess I'm not the Queen and I do see the points people are making, and it's soley the Queens choice. But it would just be a little sad if Kate ended up without it.
 
I am not totally buying the requirements for Kate to be full time working Royal to get a RFO. William has 2 knighthoods and Harry one and neither are full time royals. The way things are right now most likely William and Kate won't become full time royals until William is the heir apparent which means the Queen is dead.


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I don't believe Catherine is a "senior working royal". She is a senior royal yes, in terms of precedence and such, but she is not a full time working royal. Her number of engagements reflect this. Yes she is technically on "maternity leave", however during the years she was not pregnant she was not a full time working royal. The RFO is given to "full time working royals" of which Catherine is not. Although she's been married for nearly 5 years and provided 2 heirs, that does not make her a full time royal. Sophie had been married for 5 years, gave the Queen a grandchild and she only received her RFO two years after become a full time royal.

I am not disputing that Catherine does not work; all I am saying is there's more to it than just being married and providing heirs.

I don't think it's required for Catherine to be a full-time working royal in order to get the RFO.

Perhaps The Queen will give Catherine an honor in her 90th year and to help celebrate the Cambridge's 5th Wedding Anniversary, but I really do think the time is here for her to at least receive the RFO. It really don't take too long to get it.
 
Dman, I feel like you're setting yourself up for disappointment here.

There is no official "requirements" for the RFO, at least not beyond being a member of the BRF. However, we can kind of look at the different circumstances under which the Queen has given out the RFO before and make assumptions about when she chooses to give it out.

The best example for this is Sophie. Anyone pre-Diana has the advantage of having been pre-Diana. Diana got it fairly early, but given the drama around that marriage I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen regretted doing so - Sarah, in contrast, I don't believe ever received it, likely because the Queen chose to wait to see how that marriage worked out.

Camilla got it early on, but like Diana she married the heir and became a full time royal pretty much right away. Sophie, however, did not marry the heir and did not become a full time royal right away. With her, we can see that the Queen waited until after she had been married for awhile and after she had become a full time royal before giving it to her.

Now there's Kate. She's been married for awhile, yes, she's had children, yes, but she's still not a full time royal. I'm not going to debate the issue of whether or not she should be one - there are many factors at play there - but at this time neither she nor her husband are. So it seems like the Queen is waiting to give her the RFO until she is a full time royal.
 
I don't think it would take long to make a new one for Kate. They're only small. One of HM's people would just have to make a phone call and some artist would be able to paint one within a week, I would think. It could probably be done by computer within a day, though I like to think it would be done by hand.

I don't like the idea of Kate being given Diana's old one. She should get one of her own, not another of Diana's hand-me-downs. And it would have been on ivory, anyway, so it's a no-no.




The ivory has been used more than 30 years ago, so it still exists and won´t go away when Catherine has been given another one.:whistling:
All the family heirlooms, jewels etc are "hand-me-downs"; that´s what´s fascinating about it!
 
The ivory issue is a bit of nonsens. What will Catherine do when she is the châtelaine of the royal residences? Throw away the massive amounts of ivory which has been used in countless and countless objects and artefacts? From pianos to fans, from chess-pieces to haircombs, from miniatures to furniture-inlay, etc.?

Seeing that other Princesses got their RFO as a kiddie or a teen, we can forget the requirement that someone needs to be a "fulltime royal". Was Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone "a fulltime royal"? Was Princess Alice, Countess of Gloucester "a fulltime royal"? Was Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent "a fulltime royal"? Is Katharine, Duchess of Kent "a fulltime royal"? Is Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester "a fulltime royal"? All of them did/do not belong to the core royal family. All three of them did/do so now and then a royal engagement. And that was/is it.
 
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I think it is also very possible that both Beatrice and Eugenie have QEII RFO but we've never seen it as there were no occasion for them to wear one to. Back in the mid 1900s the glittering tiara and ball gown events were much more plentiful and the orders came out quite a bit more to be seen.
 
IMHO HM has already given Catherine the honor of receiving the RFO. I also believe it was the Queen who suggested that Catherine not wear it to the State Banquet due to their situation with the Chinese. Furthermore, HM loaned her wedding bracelet as a public display of support and acceptance of Catherine within the family. The Queen rarely does anything without a intentional purpose and she knew this would definitely be a signal sent and received by the media. They do not leave such things to chance.
 
[...] I also believe it was the Queen who suggested that Catherine not wear it to the State Banquet [...]

What is the logic behind that when all other royal ladies -the Queen herself included- wore their RFO's?

[...] HM loaned her wedding bracelet as a public display of support and acceptance of Catherine within the family. [...]

The Queen gave "her public display of support and acceptance within the family" when she gave permission for their intended marriage and did attend their wedding in own person.
 
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Since we don't know why all theories are plausible I suppose. Maybe Kate did get and didn't wear it. Maybe she forgot to wear it. Maybe she didn't get it.

We just don't know
 
I don't think the ivory issue shouldn't be glossed over. The RPOs are most likely recycled among previous wearers who passed to current ones. The ivory is probably 60 plus years old. However, everything Kate does fashion wise is spread around the globe. Her husband is on Chinese television trying to damper the use of ivory for quack medicinal and decorative use to slow the demand for ivory. She can't the next day show up to a state dinner for China, the same country William broadcasted to, wearing a ivory RFO. It okay for the other Royal ladies but William is her husband and she can't just undermine his message the day after.




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Dman, I feel like you're setting yourself up for disappointment here.

There is no official "requirements" for the RFO, at least not beyond being a member of the BRF. However, we can kind of look at the different circumstances under which the Queen has given out the RFO before and make assumptions about when she chooses to give it out.

The best example for this is Sophie. Anyone pre-Diana has the advantage of having been pre-Diana. Diana got it fairly early, but given the drama around that marriage I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen regretted doing so - Sarah, in contrast, I don't believe ever received it, likely because the Queen chose to wait to see how that marriage worked out.

Camilla got it early on, but like Diana she married the heir and became a full time royal pretty much right away. Sophie, however, did not marry the heir and did not become a full time royal right away. With her, we can see that the Queen waited until after she had been married for awhile and after she had become a full time royal before giving it to her.

Now there's Kate. She's been married for awhile, yes, she's had children, yes, but she's still not a full time royal. I'm not going to debate the issue of whether or not she should be one - there are many factors at play there - but at this time neither she nor her husband are. So it seems like the Queen is waiting to give her the RFO until she is a full time royal.

I'm not sure full-time positions have much to do with it. Both William and Harry have received honors from The Queen and they're not full-time royals.

It's just after nearly 5 years of faithful royal service to The Queen and Commonwealth and as a senior working royal, the expectation for Catherine to have the Royal Family Order is there. If not by her 5th wedding anniversary, it just wouldn't look right. I know it's a bit strange for me and some others to question The Queen's largely unknown system, but after all this time and two heirs produced, it causes me to raise an eyebrow that she hasn't yet to receive it. Now just maybe it's all down to Catherine needing to attend another State event.
 
The RFO for Catherine could have been painted on porcelain, as an alternative to ivory. Tagua is also an excellent alternative for animal ivory. There are also miniatures with oil-paint on copper, which works excellent. Here you see an example of an alternative: Willem IV of Nassau, Prince of Orange, wearing the Order of the Garter on a miniature for his spouse Anne of Great Britain and Hanover, The Princess Royal. The portrait, encrusted with diamonds, is painted with enamel on copper, which has the same characteristics as glass, so it still has the original strong colours it had in 1734. (Collection of the Dutch Royal House). With other words: the ivory will not be the problem for a RFO, plenty of alternatives.
 
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