Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal

The Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal is a civil decoration awarded by the British monarch to servants of their royal household for long and faithful service. Only those serving in the household of the monarch or their consort (or in a Queen dowager's household) are eligible.

Queen Victoria established the first version of the medal in 1872. Subsequently, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II each instituted their own version of the medal; each constitutes its own separate award, and medals from more than one reign may be worn if the criteria (including time served) are achieved in each reign.

The medal is only awarded to those in service; those working at a more senior level, specifically those who are eligible for appointment to the Royal Victorian Order, are not awarded the medal or bars (though a recipient who is subsequently promoted to a more senior rank retains the medal, along with bars awarded up to that point).

19th century
The Victoria Faithful Service Medal was established by Queen Victoria in 1872 for those in the Queen's service in recognition of their long and faithful service. It was originally awarded for 25 years' cumulative service, with a clasp awarded for each additional 10 years of service (though it could be awarded sooner at the Queen's discretion). The silver medal bore the Queen's effigy on the obverse and a personalised inscription on the reverse. The medal was suspended from a crowned VR cypher attached to a brooch bar, backed with a Royal Stewart tartan ribbon.

The Queen made the first awards of the medal on her birthday (24 May) that year. Among the first recipients was John Brown, who three months earlier had received a gold version, to an identical design, called the Devoted Service Medal; Mr Brown was the only ever recipient of this particular medal.

20th century
No such medal was instituted or awarded by King Edward VII. His successor instituted the George V Long and Faithful Service Medal in May of 1913, twenty years after his marriage to Mary of Teck (which was the date when their Household had been independently established). The service time required was lowered to 20 years' cumulative service by King George V. Servants who had been in the King or Queen's service (including prior to his accession) were eligible for the award.

Edward VIII did not issue his own medal (though a number of belated awards of his father's medal were made during his brief reign). The George VI Long and Faithful Service Medal was first issued in 1943 (seven years into that king's reign); at his request the design was the same as his father's medal (but incorporating the new king's effigy and cypher) and the medal ribbon was the same but reversed. Under George VI, service in the households of previous monarchs could also count towards the medal.

The Queen Elizabeth II Long and Faithful Service Medal was first issued in the year of her accession, 1952. Service in her own royal household, as well as in the household of her husband, her mother or her grandmother, all counted towards the award of a medal (as did service in the households of her predecessors as monarch, if not already recognised by the award of a medal or bar).

Design
On versions of the medal instituted since King George V the obverse depicts the profile of the reigning monarch and the reverse has the inscription "FOR LONG AND FAITHFUL SERVICE". The dates of the original 20 years' service are engraved on the arms of the suspension bar of the medal. The design of the ribbon changes depending on the reigning monarch. Modern versions of the medal have the name of the recipient engraved on the rim of the medal.

In the Order of Wear it falls between the King Charles III Coronation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.