Lately I’ve been doing some research on the beautiful bejewelled royal family orders – both UK and similar counterparts elsewhere. I wanted to share some results and seek your thoughts or advice.
I’ll start with the family order of George IV, but will get to others in future posts.
I’ve been looking at different publications and the online collection holdings of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), and the Royal Collection Trust (RCT). Most sources list three badges in the RCT. These belongs to the King’s Sister, The Princess Royal (later the Queen of Württemberg), his sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, and his niece Princess Augusta of Cambridge (later the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz).
There is no list of recipients included in Risk et al’s Royal Service Volume II, which has an opening chapter, “The Royal Family Orders and the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert”, which lists those awarded the orders from the VA onwards.
So to ascertain who else may have been given the order by George IV I’ve looked for evidence of recipients the three groups of female relatives where badges exist.
In Royal Insignia, Stephen Patterson reproduces the three different sized badges in the royal collection (pg133): one each belonging to a sister, sister-n-law and niece of George IV. Patterson’s notes record that in 1821 Rundell, Bridge and Rundell provided him with 11 jewelled badges/medallion. They were billed to the King in RA26021-22, “for four medallion at £234 each, one at £195, a smaller piece for £66 an yet another for £135. In July 1821 (RA 26026-27) Rundell supplied another medallion in ‘form of laurel round His Majesty’s Picture’ for £390, another in same design for £398, and two more on 28 July for £234 each.”(pg203)
So we know that in 1821 there were
2 x type at £390/398
6 x type at £234
1 x type at £195
1 x type at £135
1 x type at £60
Patterson suggests, “All can be presumed to be gifts to be given around the time of the King’s Coronation in July that year.”(pg.203)
(He also notes that in 1815 a large similar badge for £1243. He says notes annotated later on the 1815 bill suggest that piece was given to the Duchess of Cumberland as a wedding present.)
We can assume that Queen Victoria’s badge, given in 1828, Princess Augusta of Cambridge’s were probably made around that time.
So, let’s examine the evidence for each group of relatives in the following posts...
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