The Royal Victorian Medal (RVM) is a decoration established by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

in April 1896. A part of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

, it is a reward for personal service to the Sovereign or the royal family, and is the personal gift of the Sovereign. It differs from other grades of the order in appearance and in the way it is worn. The medal has three levels – bronze, silver, and gold.

Medal bar A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It most commonly indicates the Military campaign, campaign or Military operation, operation the recipient received t ...

s may be awarded to each level of medal to denote subsequent awards. Recipients may continue to wear their original medal if they are awarded a higher level for further service. The medal may also be worn in addition to the insignia of the Royal Victorian Order if the latter is subsequently awarded. Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominal letters RVM.

History

In creating the Royal Victorian Order in 1896,

decided to include a medal as part of this

dynastic order A dynastic order, monarchical order, or house order is an honorific distinction under royal patronage. This type of order is bestowed by a reigning sovereign or by the head of a formerly ruling family, recognized as a legitimate source of hono ...

. The medal would be used to reward those who had rendered faithful service to the monarch or the royal family, but were not eligible to be appointed to any orders because of their position or class. This creation followed the precedent of other European monarchs, who had royal household medals with which to reward servants. The first medals were received on 7 July 1896 and were presented to Russians by the Duke of Connaught while he was in Russia for the coronation of Tsar

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

. On 14 May 1912, King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

further confirmed the institution of the medal with an additional royal warrant. The medal has been historically used to recognise the service of police officers, who work in protective services, as well as gardeners, housekeepers, drivers, valets, and other similar type of staff. Non-commissioned members of the military may also be awarded the medal for services. It is often given for service to the monarch or royal family during royal visits. The medal may be looked upon as a long service medal, but the service must be of a meritorious character to warrant its award. Originally ranked near the end, the medal now ranks ahead of campaign, jubilee, efficiency, and long service medals in the United Kingdom Order of Wear. This gradual increase in importance was marked by the July 1980 approval, by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, to allow the use of the

postnominal Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters, or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, an academic degree, accreditation ...

RVM by recipients of the medal.

Description

The medal is circular and 28 mm in diameter. It is struck in bronze, silver, or

silver-gilt Silver-gilt or gilded/gilt silver, sometimes known in American English by the French language, French term vermeil, is silver (either pure or sterling silver, sterling) which has been gilding, gilded. Most large objects made in goldsmithing tha ...

(for the gold medal). The

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

bears the effigy of a young Queen Elizabeth II. Surrounding the effigy is the inscription ''Elizabeth II Dei Gratia Regina F D''. The reverse depicts the

royal cypher In modern heraldry, a royal cypher is a monogram or monogram-like device of a country's reigning Monarch, sovereign, typically consisting of the initials of the monarch's name and title, sometimes interwoven and often surmounted by a Crown (heral ...

, surrounded by a wreath or ribbons and laurel leaves. A curled ribbon at the bottom bears the inscription ''Royal Victorian Medal''. Attached by a ring suspension, the medal is borne by a blue ribbon with thin stripes of white and red on each edge. Awards to foreigners have a white central stripe. The ribbon is the same as that of the Royal Victorian Order. Additional awards of the medal are indicated by bars attached to the ribbon.

Precedence

Some orders of precedence are as follows:

References

External links

Governor General of Canada site about the RVM
{{Orders, decorations, and medals of Australia Civil awards and decorations of the United Kingdom Long and Meritorious Service Medals of Britain and the Commonwealth

History

Description

Precedence

See also

References

External links