What do you get the man who has everything? Queen marks 70th wedding anniversary by making Prince Phillip a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (to go with at least 93 other honours and medals)

  • Elizabeth II appointed Philip a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
  • It displays Queen's recognition of devotion Philip has shown through the years
  • Philip, 96, is the longest serving royal consort in British history

By Joe Sheppard For Mailonline

Published: 17:54 GMT, 20 November 2017 | Updated: 00:31 GMT, 21 November 2017

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh pictured in their Wedding anniversary portrait

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh pictured in their Wedding anniversary portrait

The Queen has presented the Duke of Edinburgh with a rare honour as a special anniversary present as they celebrate 70 years of marriage.

As the royal couple reached their milestone platinum wedding anniversary, Elizabeth II appointed Philip a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) for services to the sovereign.

The touching gesture will be seen as the Queen's recognition of the devotion Philip has shown through the decades, supporting her publicly and privately.

Philip, 96, retired from his public role in the summer after years of royal duty alongside the monarch.

He is the longest serving royal consort in British history, and the Queen, the nation's longest reigning monarch, is the first to celebrate a 70th wedding anniversary.

Awards in the Royal Victorian Order are made personally by the Queen and bestowed independently of Downing Street.

The monarch presented Philip with the honour at Windsor Castle, where they are marking their anniversary privately.

They are celebrating with close family and friends at a special dinner at the Berkshire residence on Monday evening.

Philip is already a Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG), a Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (KT) and a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE). Now with his GCVO he will have four UK order of chivalry breast stars. The last UK citizen to equal this was his uncle Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

Philip also has many other honours including the Order of Merit (OM), Order of New Zealand (ONZ), and Knight, Order of Australia (AK).

Elizabeth II was a 21-year-old princess when she married her consort Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten on November 20 1947 at Westminster Abbey.

The fairy-tale royal wedding was a morale booster in the tough years that followed the Second World War and millions of people tuned in to listen to the ceremony on the wireless.

What is the Royal Victorian Order? 

The Royal Victorian Order was established by Queen Victoria in 1896.

It is a dynastic order of knighthood that recognises personal services to the British monarch or members of the royal family and admission is at the sole discretion of the Queen.

The Order has five grades and one medal with three levels representing different levels of service.

The Order's badge  is a Maltese Cross with a central medallion depicting on a red background the Royal Cypher of Queen Victoria surmounted by a Tudor Crown.

As a Knight Grand Cross, Philip will now wear the Order's badge on a sash passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. 

The young princess wore a Norman Hartnell dress made of duchesse ivory silk-satin which was hand-embroidered with more than 10,000 pearls and crystals.

Wartime leader Winston Churchill summed up the occasion as 'a flash of colour on the hard road we travel'.

Less than five years after the royal wedding, the Princess became Queen on the death of her father George VI.

Together, the Queen and Philip have celebrated the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilees of the Queen's reign, and faced ups and downs over the years including the breakdown of three of their four children's marriages, and the backlash which followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

With their family growing year by year, the Queen and Philip are preparing to welcome their sixth great-grandchild in April - a third child for the the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Queen is the nation's first monarch to celebrate a 70th wedding anniversary

The Queen is the nation's first monarch to celebrate a 70th wedding anniversary

They already have five great-grandchildren - Savannah and Isla Phillips, Mia Tindall, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, as well as eight grandchildren - Peter and Zara Phillips, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn, and their own four children the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex.

The couple are marking their anniversary privately at Windsor Castle

The couple are marking their anniversary privately at Windsor Castle

Bells at the historic Abbey in central London have rung out in tribute on Monday, with a full celebratory peal lasting around three hours and 20 minutes.

The Queen and Philip attended thanksgiving services at the Abbey to commemorate their silver, golden and diamond wedding anniversaries, but this occasion is not being marked which such a service.

Prime Minister Theresa May sent her congratulations to couple on their 'special' anniversary, while other messages came from the Women's Institute, of which the Queen has been a member longer than she has been married to the Duke, joining the Sandringham branch as a princess in 1943.

In 2007 on their 60th anniversary, the Queen bestowed the Royal Victorian Chain upon the Duke as a sign of her affection.

A series of portraits of the Queen and Philip taken by British photographer Matt Holyoak was released to mark the platinum anniversary.

The portraits show the monarch wearing a yellow gold, ruby and diamond scarab brooch, given as a personal gift from Philip to the Queen in 1966.  

Philip's collection of honours and medals 

The Duke of Edinburgh has accumulated a long list of honours and medals from the Commonwealth and the rest of the world over more than 70 years.

Here is a list of his 93 national and international titles and awards, the countries they are from and the year he received them:

The Duke of Edinburgh, pictured last year, has accumulated a long list of honours and medals from the Commonwealth and the rest of the world over more than 70 years

The Duke of Edinburgh, pictured last year, has accumulated a long list of honours and medals from the Commonwealth and the rest of the world over more than 70 years

Commonwealth Realms

Appointments  

Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, England, 1947 

Personal Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty The King, British Empire and Commonwealth, June 1948 - February 1952,

Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, United Kingdom, 1951  

Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Scotland, 1952

Grand Master and First and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, United Kingdom, 1953

Privy Councillor of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Canada, 1957

Member of the Order of Merit, Commonwealth realms, 1968

Order of the Dogwood, British Columbia, 1971

Extra Companion of the Queen's Service Order, New Zealand, 1981 

Companion of the Order of Australia (Military Division), Australia, 1988  

Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Papua New Guinea, 2005

Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand, 2012

Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit, Canada, 2013

Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada, 2013

Knight of the Order of Australia (General Division), Australia, 2015

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Commonwealth realms 2017

Decorations and medals

King George VI Coronation Medal, British Empire and Commonwealth, 1937

1939–1945 Star, United Kingdom, 1945

Atlantic Star, United Kingdom, 1945

Africa Star, United Kingdom, 1945

Burma Star, with Pacific clasp, United Kingdom, 1945

Italy Star, United Kingdom, 1945

1939-45 War Medal, with Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf, United Kingdom, 1945

Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal, Commonwealth, 1953

Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, Commonwealth realms, 1977

Canadian Forces Decoration, with five bars, Canada, 1954

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, New Zealand, 1990

Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, Commonwealth Realms, 2002

Commemorative Medal for the Centennial of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada, 2005

Royal Victorian Chain, Commonwealth realms, 2007

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (both the British and Canadian versions), Commonwealth realms, 2012

Naval Long Service and Good Conduct Medal with six bars, United Kingdom, 2016 

Other Commonwealth Countries

Appointments

Member First Class of the Order of the Brilliant Star, Zanzibar, 1963

Member of the Most Distinguished Order of Izzuddin, Maldives, 1972

Honorary Member of the Darjah Utama Temasek, Singapore, 1972

Member First Class of the Esteemed Royal Family Order, Brunei, 1972

Decorations

Sultan of Brunei Silver Jubilee Medal, Brunei, 1992

Malta George Cross Fiftieth Anniversary Medal, Malta, 1992

Foreign honours

Orders 

Collar of the Royal Family Order of Saints George and Constantine with swords KSGC, Greece, 1941

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Redeemer Greece, 1947

Knight of the Order of the Elephant, Denmark, 1947

Knight Grand Cross with Swords of the Royal Order of George I, Greece, 1950 – 1975

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Phoenix, Greece, 1950

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Charles, Monaco, 1951

Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav, Norway, 1952 

Grand Cross of the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero, Panama, 1953

Knight of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, Sweden, 1954

Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of the Queen of Sheba, Ethiopia, 1954

Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword, Portugal, 1955

Member First Class of the Order of King Faisal I, Iraq, 1956

Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, France, 1957 

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic, Italy, 1958

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, Netherlands, 1958 

Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Germany, 1958

Member of the Order of Ojaswi Rajanya, Nepal, 1960

Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose, Finland, 1961

Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence, Tunisia, 1961

Grand Band of the Order of the Star of Africa, Liberia, 1961

Grand Cross Extraordinary of the Order of Boyaca, Colombia, 1962

Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit, Ecuador, 1962

Grand Cross in Brilliants of the Order of the Sun of Peru, Peru, 1962

Grand Cross of the Order of the Condor of the Andes, Bolivia, 1962

Collar of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Chile, 1962

Grand Cross of the National Order of the Southern Cross, Brazil, 1962

Grand Cross Extraordinary of the National Order of Merit, Paraguay, 1962

Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martin, Argentina, 1962

Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, Belgium, 1963

Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon, Iceland, 1963

Collar of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Mexico, 1964

Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance, Jordan, 1966

Grand Commander of the Order of Maritime Merit of the San Francisco Port Authority, United States, 1968

Member First Class of the Order of the Supreme Sun, Afghanistan, 1971

Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, Japan, 1971

Knight of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, Luxembourg, 1972

Yugoslav Great Star of the Order of the Yugoslav Star, Yugoslavia, 1972 – 1992

Star of Palestine, Palestine, 1972

Grand Cordon of the National Order of the Leopard, Zaire, 1973

Grand Collar of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique, Portugal, 1973

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the Golden Ark, Netherlands, 1979

Member First Class of the Military Order of Oman, Oman, 1979

Collar of the Order of Independence, Qatar, 1979

Grand Cross of the Order of Aviz, Portugal, 1979

Member Special Class of the Order of Muhammad, Morrocco, 1980

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III, Spain, 1986

Grand Cordon of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, Poland, 1991

Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, Portugal, 1993

Order of the Federation, United Arab Emirates, 2010

 Member of the Distinguished First Class of the King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit, Saudi Arabia, 2010

Decorations  

Greek War Cross, Greece, 1945

Croix de Guerre with Palm, France, 1945

Decoration of the Republic, First Class, Sudan, 1964

Decoration for Service to the Republic of Austria, Grand Star, Austria, 1966

Commemorative Medal of the 2500th Anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire, Iran, 1971

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