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List of honorary British knights and dames

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Many people have been created honorary knights or dames by the British crown. There are also those that have been appointed to two comparable orders, the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour, and those that have had conferred on them the decoration of the Royal Victorian Chain; none of these carries pre-nominal styles.

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Honorary awards

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Use of pre-nominal styles and post-nominal initials

An honorary award is one made to a person who is not a citizen of a Commonwealth realm. He or she cannot use the pre-nominal style of 'Sir' or 'Dame', but can use the post-nominal letters (after their names), subject to the prevailing conventions in his or her own country. If such a person later acquires citizenship of a Commonwealth realm, then any honorary awards usually become substantive, and in the case of knights and dames they can begin to use the pre-nominal styles. However this is not automatic. The person must be dubbed by the King or his delegate in order to be entitled to use the pre-nominal style. If the knighthood is in an order which has a special class for honorary knighthoods, a change to a regular class of knighthoods is also required.

Loss of citizenship of a British realm

Citizens of a country which was a full part of the British Empire or Commonwealth when they received the honour (i.e. who were British subjects at the time), were substantive knights or dames, not honorary. The knighthood does not become honorary, and the person may choose to use his or her title(s), after their country becomes a republic. Citizens of British protectorates and mandated territories usually received honorary awards. Notable exceptions were rulers of the Indian princely states and their subjects, who were de jure British protected persons and not British subjects, but who received substantive knighthoods.

Annulment and restoration

In certain circumstances, an honorary award may be annulled (i.e. revoked). The effect is that, officially, the person is considered never to have been given the award, their name is erased from the order's register, and they are required to return all insignia. This happens when the Sovereign issues a signed and sealed ordinance cancelling and annulling the appointment. This is not common and in practice only occurs where the recipient has engaged in serious detrimental activities, e.g. following a conviction for serious crimes, or for hostile acts against the United Kingdom. In even rarer circumstances, an annulled award may later be restored by the Sovereign. Details of known annulments and restorations are annotated in the table below.

Order of the Garter terminology

The Order of the Garter uses terminology different from that of most other British orders. 'Stranger/Extra Knights Companion of the Garter' and 'Stranger/Extra Ladies Companion of the Order of the Garter' are the equivalent of 'Honorary Knights' and 'Honorary Dames' in other orders. As with other orders, the pre-nominal styles 'Sir' and 'Lady' are not used by Extra Knights and Extra Ladies. Revoked appointments are said to be 'degraded' rather than 'annulled'; the effect, however, is the same.

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Abbreviations

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The following are listed in order of precedence:

More information Serial, Postnom. ...

See also

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    According to a short biography at Oxford University, Anna Morpurgo Davies was born and educated in Italy.
  2. [N 2]
    British nationality was automatically lost by naturalisation in a non-Commonwealth country (in this case the United States) prior to 1 January 1949; see History of British nationality law
  3. [N 3]
    This is the Irish mezzo-soprano Ann Murray, not the Canadian popular singer Anne Murray
  4. [N 4]
    Australian citizenship was in general automatically lost by adult naturalisation in another country before 4 April 2002
  5. [N 5]
    British Dependent Territories citizens solely connected with Hong Kong by birth, descent or naturalisation lost that status on 30 June 1997 if a citizen of another country, including China. This provision applied to most ethnic Chinese British nationals in Hong Kong. Those who wished to do so were allowed to retain British nationality by registering for British National (Overseas) status by 1997, but this was optional. See British nationality law and Hong Kong. Those former British Dependent Territories citizens who have acquired British National (Overseas) status remain eligible for substantive knighthoods. In all other cases a knighthood awarded on or after 1 July 1997 is honorary if the recipient is not otherwise a British national or citizen of another Commonwealth realm.
  6. [N 6]
    Germany
  7. [N 7]
    Germany. Before 1850, see Prussia
  8. [N 8]
    Germany. After 1850, see German Empire
  9. [N 9]
    Formerly Muscat and Oman
  10. [N 10]
    The Royal Victorian Chain does not confer post-nominal entitlements and does not fit within the official order of wear. It is usually listed above the GCVO in official announcements of awards and is positioned accordingly here.

References

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