List of knights and dames grand cross of the Royal Victorian Order appointed by George VI

The Royal Victorian Order is an order of knighthood awarded by the sovereign of the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth realms. It is granted personally by the monarch and recognises personal service to the monarchy, the Royal Household, royal family members, and the organisation of important royal events.^[1][2] The order was officially created and instituted on 23 April 1896 by letters patent under the Great Seal of the Realm by Queen Victoria.^[3] It was instituted with five grades, the two highest of which were Knight Grand Cross (GCVO) and Knight Commander (KCVO), which conferred the status of knighthood on holders (apart from foreigners, who typically received honorary awards not entitling them to the style of a knight).^[4][5][6] Women were not admitted until Edward VIII altered the statutes of the order in 1936; those receiving the highest two awards were styled dames and those grades, when conferred on women, are Dame Grand Cross and Dame Commander (DCVO).^[7]

The star of a Knight or Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order

No limit was placed on the number of appointments which could be made.^[8] King George VI appointed 43 Knights Grand Cross and 12 Dames Grand Cross between his accession to the throne on 11 December 1936 and his death on 6 February 1952.

Knights and dames grand cross appointed by George VI

The list below is ordered by date of appointment. Full names, styles, ranks and titles are given where applicable, as correct at the time of appointment to the order. Branch of service or regiment details are given in parentheses to distinguish them from offices. The offices listed are those given in the official notice, printed in the London Gazette. Where applicable, the occasion is given that was listed either with the notices or in published material elsewhere, in which case that material is cited.

Name	Date	Refs.
Queen Elizabeth	1 February 1937	[9]
Commander Lord Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten	1 February 1937	[10]
Hugh Pattison Macmillan, Baron Macmillan	1 February 1937	[10]
Maud, Queen of Norway	11 May 1937	[11]
Mary, Princess Royal	11 May 1937	[11]
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll	11 May 1937	[11]
Princess Beatrice	11 May 1937	[11]
Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire	11 May 1937	[12]
Nina Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne	11 May 1937	[12]
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster	11 May 1937	[12]
Field Marshal Sir William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baronet	11 May 1937	[12]
Lieutenant-General Sir George Sidney Clive	11 May 1937	[12]
Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Woolcott Game	11 May 1937	[12]
Major Sir Alexander Henry Louis Hardinge	11 May 1937	[12]
Most Rev. Cosmo Gordon Lang	11 May 1937	[12]
Sir John Allsebrook Simon	11 May 1937	[12]
Admiral Sir Roger Roland Charles Backhouse	20 May 1937	[13]
Admiral Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound	20 May 1937	[13]
Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding	26 June 1937	[13]
Helen Magdalen Percy, Duchess of Northumberland	1 January 1938	[14]
Lieutenant-Colonel David Lyulph Gore Wolseley Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie	1 January 1938	[14]
Thomas Jeeves Horder, 1st Baron Horder	1 January 1938	[14]
Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Alexander Robert Maule Ramsay	6 July 1938	[15]
Sir George Frankenstein	25 July 1938
George Charles Bingham, 5th Earl of Lucan	2 January 1939	[16]
Sir John Charles Walsham Reith	2 January 1939	[16]
Sir Eric Clare Edmund Phipps	21 March 1939	[17]
George Herbert Hyde Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon	8 June 1939	[17]
Sir John Weir	8 June 1939	[17]
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir	15 June 1939	[18]
Sir Smith Hill Child, 2nd Baronet	30 June 1941
Hon. Sir Arthur Stanley	1 January 1944	[19]
Rear-Admiral Sir Basil Vernon Brooke	2 June 1945	[20]
Bernard Marmaduke Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk	1 January 1946	[21]
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and Brandon	1 January 1946	[21]
Lieutenant-General Sir Hari Singh, Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir	1 January 1946	[21]
Margaret Russell, Dowager Baroness Ampthill	13 June 1946	[22]
Sir Edward Ettingdene Bridges	13 June 1946	[22]
Sir Alan Frederick Lascelles	12 June 1947	[23]
Admiral Sir Dudley Burton Napier North	12 June 1947	[23]
The Duchess of Gloucester	1 January 1948	[24]
The Duchess of Kent	1 January 1948	[24]
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone	1 January 1948	[24]
Sir Godfrey John Vignoles Thomas, 10th Baronet	1 January 1948	[24]
Sir James Ulick Francis Canning Alexander	10 June 1948	[25]
Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Sir Piers Walter Legh	10 June 1948	[25]
Major-General Sir Harold Augustus Wernher, 3rd Baronet	1 January 1949	[26]
Sir Maurice Alan Cassidy	3 May 1949	[27]
Brigadier Sir Thomas Peel Dunhill	3 May 1949	[27]
Sir Morton Smart	3 May 1949	[27]
Captain Lord Claud Nigel Hamilton	9 June 1949	[28]
Boyd Merriman, 1st Baron Merriman	2 January 1950	[29]
Sir Henry Davies Foster MacGeagh	2 January 1950	[29]
Sir Oliver Charles Harvey	8 June 1950	[30]
Sir John Berkeley Monck	21 July 1950	[31]

Source: Galloway et al., 1996, p. 112