How can I become knighted? I know it sounds weird-funny but I always wanted to have the Sir.?

Question

How can I become knighted? I know it sounds weird-funny but I always wanted to have the Sir.?

Answer 1

The Prime Minister's office draws up a list of hounorees each year that the Queen knights.  These include some of the most successful people of the Untied Kingdom.  Your best bet is to become a contendor for a Nobel Prize.  A combination of British residency and a Nobel should get you a KBE.  

An alternate possibility would be for you to marry one of Her Majesty's granddaughters.  That should at least get you some sort of knighthood, maybe even a curtesy title.

Answer 2

HM Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon is dead,you cant save her...

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Answer 3

Save the Mother queen's life. Knighted guaranteed.

Answer 4

A knighthood was usually awarded for military service,or for a lifetime career  in service to one's country that benefited the people of that nation.

In America the equivelant is called "The Medal of Freedom".

Answer 5

Make alot of James Bond movies

Answer 6

Only suck holes are sirs

Answer 7

You'd have to do something really very well,exceptionally well,like the diverse group of Bill Gates (He's American but can not use the honorific of "Sir"),Tom Jones, and Margaret Thatcher,but you can not buy a title from the UK.

Here's a link and explanation for the honours process:

http://honours.gov.uk/nominate.aspx

On this page you'll find this:

"The Honours system is a way to recognise outstanding merit and service to the nation. It's been around for centuries but only since 1993 has the public been able to make nominations themselves. That's where you come in.

Step by step guide to making a nomination: a guide to the process of nominating someone to receive an honour..."

There's also a page that explains types of awards:

"Types of Award

A Quick Guide to the Awards

Companion of Honour

Awarded for a pre-eminent and sustained contribution in the arts, science, medicine, or government.

Knight/Dame

Awarded for a pre-eminent contribution in any field of activity, through achievement or service to the community, usually, but not exclusively at national level, or in a capacity which will be recognised by peer groups as inspirational and significant nationally, and which demonstrates sustained commitment.

CBE

Awarded for a prominent national role of a lesser degree, or a conspicuous leading role in regional affairs, through achievement or service to the community, or making a highly distinguished, innovative contribution in his or her area of activity.

OBE

Awarded for a distinguished regional or country-wide role in any field, through achievement or service to the community, including notable practitioners known nationally.

MBE

Awarded for achievement or service in and to the community of a responsible kind which is outstanding in its field; or very local 'hands-on' service which stands out as an example to others. In both cases awards illuminate areas of dedicated service which merit public recognition. "

http://www.royal.gov/uk  also has an explanation of honours as well:

"KNIGHTHOODS

A knighthood (or a damehood, its female equivalent) is one of the highest honours an individual in the United Kingdom can achieve.



While in past centuries knighthood used to be awarded solely for military merit, today it recognises significant contributions to national life.

Recipients today range from actors to scientists, and from school head teachers to industrialists.

A knighthood cannot be bought and it carries no military obligations to the Sovereign.

The Queen (or a member of the Royal Family acting on her behalf) confers knighthood in Britain, either at a public Investiture or privately.

The ceremony involves the ceremonial dubbing of the knight by The Queen, and the presentation of insignia.

By tradition, clergy receiving a knighthood are not dubbed, as the use of a sword is thought inappropriate for their calling.

Foreign citizens occasionally receive honorary knighthoods; they are not dubbed, and they do not use the style 'Sir'.

Such knighthoods are conferred by The Queen, on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on those who have made an important contribution to relations between their country and Britain.

Foreign citizens given knighthoods over the years include Chancellor Kohl, President Mitterrand and Mayor Giuliani of New York.

The origins of knighthood are obscure, but they are said to date back to ancient Rome, where there was a knightly class Ordo Equestris (an order of mounted nobles).

Knighthood became an established military guild in many European countries, and it had certain characteristics: a would-be knight would undertake strict military training from boyhood, including some time as an assistant (an esquire) to a knight with whom he rode to war.



In ceremony of knighting, the knight-elect kneels on a knighting-stool in front of The Queen, who then lays the sword blade on the knight's right and then left shoulder.

After he has been dubbed, the new knight stands up, and The Queen invests the knight with the insignia of the Order to which he has been appointed.

Contrary to popular belief, the words 'Arise, Sir ...' are not used.

He would also have to prove himself worthy according to rules of chivalrous behaviour, such as 'faithfulness to his Saviour and his Sovereign', generosity, self-denial, bravery and skill at arms.

In addition, he would be expected to have the financial ability to support the honour of knighthood, so that he could provide himself with arms, armour, horses and the required number of armed followers to render military service to his Sovereign for a minimum period each year.

In former times, no person could be born a knight: even monarchs and their heirs had to be made knights.

Alfred knighted his grandson Athelstan; William I was knighted when he became king (although he had previously been knighted in Normandy); Edward III, Henry VII and Edward VI were all knighted, after coming to the throne, by one of their subjects.

The conferment of knighthood involved strict religious rites (encouraged by bishops who saw the necessity of protecting the Church, and of emphasising Christian ideals in order to temper the knights' ferocity), which included fasting, a vigil, bathing, confession and absolution before the ceremony took place.

The first and simplest method of knighting was that used on battlefields, when the candidate knelt before the Royal commander of the army and was 'stricken with the sword upon his back and shoulder' with some words such as 'Advances Chevalier au nom de Dieu'. (The action of touching the sword on the recipient's shoulder is known as dubbing.)

The second method involved greater ceremony, which could include the offering by the knight of his sword on the altar.

Although the monarch's 'lieutenants in the wars' and a few others of high birth could knight others, over the years successive Sovereigns began drastically to limit the power to confer knighthood - particularly Henry VIII.

Eventually, it became the custom for monarchs to confer all knighthoods personally, unless this was quite impracticable.  

However, knighthoods were not necessarily sought after, as there were men who wanted to avoid an honour which compelled them (at great expense and personal inconvenience) to reinforce the Sovereign's armies.

The alternative to knighthood was the payment of a fine instead of military service, and kings such as Edward II, James I and Charles I found such fines a useful source of income for the crown (this practice of fining was abolished in Charles II's reign).

James I even instituted a new honour of baronetcy (a title which could be passed on to descendants) in 1611, so that he could raise money and valuable reinforcements for his army.

In extreme cases, when a knight was found guilty of treachery or treason, he could lose his honour by formal degradation - a public ceremony in which his accoutrements were taken off him.

In 1468, Sir Ralph Grey was taken to Doncaster where, being guilty of treason, his 'gold spurs were hewn from his heels while his sword and all his armour were broken'.

The last public degradation was in 1621 at Westminster Hall, when Sir Francis Mitchell was found guilty of 'grievous exactions' and had his spurs broken and thrown away, his belt cut and his sword broken over his head. Finally, he was pronounced to be 'no longer a Knight but Knave'.

Other more recent examples of degradation from honours are when Sir Roger Casement had his knighthood cancelled during the First World War for treason. He was later executed. In 1979 Sir Anthony Blunt, a former Surveyor of The Queen's pictures, also had his knighthood withdrawn for espionage.

Currently, a person may be stripped of his knighthood should he be convicted of a criminal offence by a Court of Justice."

Answer 8

Only UK citizens can be knighted.  However, you can always legally change your name (if you're not a UK citizen) to whatever you want, as long as the judge agrees.   Remember Prince?

Answer 9

The Queen has given Americans honorary knighthoods, including Ruddy Giuliani, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bob Hope, Colin Powell, Steven Spielberg, and Bill Gates.  They must receive permission from Congress before they accept this designation, and they can't call themselves "sir", but they can place the initials KBE after their names.

Knights are drawn from among the "Honours List" issued  twice-yearly at New Year's and the Sovereign's official birthday.  Private individuals, government officials, and representatives of organizations can nominate candidates for this recognition, which, as the second hyperlink listed below claims, are considered according to their merit.   They must be citizens of the United Kingdom and live (and pay taxes) there.

Answer 10

If you make a contribution of several million to the Labour Party, I am sure it could be arranged.