BARON MONCHEUR WW1 ERA ROYAL VICTORIAN GRAND CROSS ORDER BADGE MEDAL G.C.V.O.

BARON MONCHEUR WW1 ERA ROYAL VICTORIAN GRAND CROSS ORDER BADGE MEDAL G.C.V.O.

Offered is an original Royal Victorian Order, Grand Cross Sash Badge (G.C.V.O.), as awarded to Baron Ludovic Moncheur for services rendered in relation to the visit to Britain of King Albert I and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians.

72mm wide silver, gilt & enamel Maltese cross of multi-part construction with laterally-pierced loop and ring for ribbon suspension; the white enamel cross arms and face with an oval central medallion imposed bearing the gilt cipher ‘VRI’ of Queen Victoria on a red enamel ground within a deep blue enamel ring with gilt arabesques above, inscribed ‘VICTORIA’ in gilt letters below, an Imperial crown in gilt and red enamel above; gilt suspension ring and post, the reverse plain gilt and numbered 499 on full length original sash ribbon.

G.C.V.O.: 4 July 1921 (Visit to Britain of King Albert I and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians)

Baron Ludovic Moncheur was born on 12/5/1857 at Brussels, Belgium, the son of Francois Moncheur, Minister of Public Works (who was granted the hereditary peerage of Baron from Leopold II in 1881). He was educated at the Catholic University of Louvain and entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1882. He undertook diplomatic positions in The Hague (1883), Madrid (1885), Vienna (1886), Berlin (1887), Lisbon (1888), Rome (1890), and was appointed Minister Resident in Mexico City (1897), and Washington (1901). He was a close friend of President Theodore Roosevelt. Promoted to Minister Plenipotentiary (1901) and served in this position in Constantinople between 1909 and November 1914, when the Ottoman Empire entered the war. For his final diplomatic posting he served as Belgian Ambassador to the United Kingdom between 31/10/1917 and 3/7/1927, the first Belgian Ambassador to the Court of St. James. He died in Brussels on 25/6/1940.

The Order was instituted on 21 April 1896 to be awarded for service to the sovereign and is in his or her personal gift. It is most often given to members of the Royal Household, to those who are of service to the monarch during foreign tours and during state visits to heads of state and their personal entourage.

The Order is issued in small numbers and usually retained within families and is thus rarely available on the market.