Obtaining British Knighthood

[Guest]

I've always wondered what involved in becoming a knight in Britain. Specifically, I've wondered, for example, why Sir Paul McCartney was knighted and George Harrison was not. Does the prospective knight's charitable work have something to do with it? Is it more a matter of whether the Queen simply likes McCartney's music better than Harrison's? Does one have to be a member of the Anglican Church to become a knight? Does the Queen generally act upon the advice of certain advisors? Maybe our British or Canadian members can shed some light onto this matter...

[Guest zipperzone]

A Canadian citizen is prohibited from receiving a Knighthood.

[jakobsen]

Candidates for British honours are nominated by private or public institutions, government or the public. Depending on the award, the nomination is approved by the Prime Minister's Office, Foreign Office or Ministry of Defence before it is sent to The Queen for final approval. The award is published twice a year: on New Year's Day and The Queen's official birthday.

 

There are several ranks or grades within an order (for example, Order of the British Empire): MBE (member), OBE (order), CBE (commander) and KBE or DBE (Knight or Dame). All four Beatles received the MBE. John Lennon returned his and Sir Paul was nominated to the rank knight in 1997. The Queen cannot elevate George Harrison's rank to knighthood without the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

 

One does not necessarily have to be a member of the Anglican church to receive honours. Indeed there are several Catholic, Jewish or Muslims who have been knighted.

 

Canadians (especially those with dual UK and Canadian citizens) can receive British honours but the Canada (especially French Canadian lawmakers) opposes this. Canadians, however, cannot accept a nomination to become a Life Peer and serve in the House of Lords.

 

Finally, certain orders are awarded at the sole discretion of The Queen and these are awarded mostly to members and servants of the royal family.

[Guest]

So am I correct, therefore, in understanding that the reason George Harrison wasn't knighted is that the Prime Minister didn't recommend it? Also, what would happen if a Canadian accepted knighthood? Would he lose his Canadian citizenship, or be fined or imprisoned? Or does the Canadian PM have the authority to forbid Her Royal Highness from knighting Canadian citizens?

[alanalt]

Zip is wrong. A scientist holding dual Canadian-British citizenship was given a knighthood a couple of years back without any issue. However decades ago, the Canadian gov't established that Canadian citizenship was incompatible with holding peerages (as opposed to other honours) because of the hereditary component (the title is passed on the one's children except for life peerages, which were very rare when the guidelines were established) and most especially because they automatically carried with it membership in the House of Lords (until just a few years ago). A Canadian who accepted a peerage would thus have their citizenship revoked (no other penalties).

 

Zip's no doubt thinking of the celebrated case of Conrad Black, former newspaper baron and current convicted felon. Back in the late 1990s, Black (then a dual UK/Canadian citizen) was offered a peerage and pressed the government of the day to change the guidelines to allow him to accept. The government refused and Black chose to give up his citizenship rather than refuse the lordship/peerage. Jean Chretien was PM when Black's peerage was offered and, ironically, Mr. Chretien has recently been awarded the Order of Merit, which is one of the most prestigious of all honours because it has a very limited membership and is also within the personal gift of the Sovereign (i.e. the British PM does not recommend OM appointments, unlike almost all other honours).

 

So am I correct, therefore, in understanding that the reason George Harrison wasn't knighted is that the Prime Minister didn't recommend it?

Reduced to it's simplest form, yes. The PMO solicits recommendation from a wide variety of sources and then has the tough job of weighing the various recommendations and then apportioning them to various categories (e.g. cultural, scientific, charity/social work, industry/business and, of course, the very controversial 'political' honours).

 

In addition, promotion within an order (i.e. from Member to Companion to Knight) usually requires continued contribution. If I was to hazard a guess as to why Paul was knighted and George wasn't, it's because Paul's ongoing (i.e. post-Beatle) musical (and other activist) contributions weighed more heavily than George's when the honours lists were being compiled...

 

Oh, and since we're on the topic the Queen is referred to/addressed as 'Her Majesty'. 'His/Her Royal Highness' is the form of address usually used for Princes/Princesses within the immediate Royal Family by either birth or (often but not always) marriage (e.g. Diana and Camila became 'HRH' when they married Prince Charles, Wallis Simpson did not when she married the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII)

 

Alan