What is the process in the UK on determining who recieves a knighthood?

Question

I am very interested to know what is the process in the UK that determines who recieves a knighthood. How many knighthoods are gioven each year? In recent years it seems that entertainers are knighted- from actors to musicians- Does the Queen decided who is knighted, or does the public determine this? Are there different levels of knighthood?

I thought the Beatles were knighted in the 1960s- If anyone could shed light on this, Id appreciate it, thanks.

Answer 1

Here is how the knighthood system function

Foreign nationals can also be knighted, but they are not allowed to use the title "Sir" or "Dame" before their names, although they can add "KBE" after their names. The U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs usually nominates foreigners for knighthood and similar honors. Foreign knighthoods are conferred based on a person's contribution to relations between their country and Britain.

The sovereign of the United Kingdom (currently Queen Elizabeth II) is traditionally referred to as the "fountain of honour," the source of titles such as knighthoods, awarded in recognition of service. Various honorific orders exist, but not all of them include knighthood. Recipients of the four highest orders, including the Order of the Garter, are personally chosen by the sovereign. The Cabinet Office of the U.K suggests the rest of the honorees for the sovereign's approval.

Anyone can nominate a British citizen for knighthood or other royal honors (although self-nomination is discouraged). Nominations from the public account for about a quarter of all recommendations. The Prime Minister and government departments usually submit the rest of the recommendations for the biannual Honors List.

The Order of the British Empire is perhaps the most common knighthood given today. It's frequently awarded to civilians for public service and contributions to the nation. Many British scientists, educators, doctors, nurses, charitable and social workers, business people, athletes, writers, actors, musicians, and artists have received this distinction.

Answer 2

In order to receive a knighthood or dameship,you have to very good at what you do,be it in the arts,sports,philanthrophy...You are nominated for the honor by someone from the general public!

Here's the info:

from http://www.honours.gov.uk/

"The honours system recognises merit and service to the nation. There are several different types of award, each one recognising a different type of contribution.

Honours lists are published twice a year at New Year and in mid-June on the date of The Queen's official birthday. Anyone can receive an award if they reach the required standard of merit or service, and honours lists contain a wide variety of people from different backgrounds. Anyone can nominate someone for an award.

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 all cases awards illuminate areas of dedicated service which merit public recognition.

How to Nominate

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

1. What's in it for you?

For starters, knowing you're helping to recognise someone whose efforts may often go unnoticed and unrewarded. And doing so in one of the most highly respected - and nationally celebrated - ways possible.

But there are other reasons, too. When they are honoured, the organisation or area where they work or volunteer is also recognised.

They may hold the Honour, but everyone shares the pride and pleasure it brings.

2. Who can be nominated?

Anyone can be nominated, but only exceptional people are honoured. To be in with a chance of seeing your candidate on the Honours List, make sure your nomination has what it takes to make it all the way to Buckingham Palace. Achievement comes in many forms but what we're looking for is someone who has made a difference in their field of work or community.

Honours can be awarded for all sorts of work - paid or unpaid - but your nominee must still be involved in the activity for which they're nominated.

Has your nominee:

made a difference to their community or field of work

brought distinction to British life and enhanced its reputation

exemplified the best sustained and selfless voluntary service

demonstrated innovation and entrepreneurship

carried the respect of their peers

changed things, with an emphasis on achievement

improved the lot of those less able to help themselves

displayed moral courage and vision in making and delivering tough choices

3. Get a copy of the nominations form and read the guidance notes

You can download and print them from this website. Alternatively, you can write, telephone or e-mail us requesting paper copies to be sent to you.

Nomination form and guidance notes

4. Read the guidance notes carefully and complete the form as fully as possible

You may find our booklet How to Write Citations[PDF 389KB, 4 pages] useful.

5. Ensure that you have the required letters of support

Those writing the letters of support may find our booklet How to Write Citations[PDF 389KB, 4 pages] useful.

6. Find out more

You may wish to consider the honours process, how decisions about honours are made and read some case studies.

Nominations process

How decisions are made

Case studies

7. Return the form to us

You can send it by post, by email or you can fax it.

Ceremonial Secretariat

Cabinet Office

35 Great Smith Street

London SW1P 3BQ

Fax: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

8. The process

Nominations are collated and then sorted according to the nominee's area of expertise by the Ceremonial Secretariat. Expert committees can then compare like with like - for instance, teacher with teacher. The best candidates are put forward to the Prime Minister, who then presents the Committee list and identifies the strongest cases to The Queen.

9. Checking progress

As you can imagine, verifying a large number of nominations takes time. That's why the nominee should not expect to hear anything for 18 months or so. You can contact the Ceremonial Secretariat if you would like to check on progress.

10. The decision

If selected, candidates are sent a letter asking them whether they would be willing to accept an Honour. Almost everyone does and their names will appear in The London Gazette at the New Year or on The Queen's official birthday in June. "

You can read more at the above site or af http://www.royal.gov/uk click on Monarchy Today and click on the box about investitures.

Answer 3

One think is for sure they do not give it to bobo apes.  Why do you want to know about something that will never effect you? they don't give it to left wing liberal filth

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.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 4

You maybe give a big bung to the Prime Minister,  or the party treasurer.  But you got to be discreet, because it is against the law.

Answer 5

The information you require is here, just follow the links on the left of the page.

http://www.honours.gov.uk/

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page237.a...

Answer 6

Make large political contributions to Labour.  The bigger your donations, the better chance of honours.

Answer 7

I'll address your PS (without using the popular 'cut-and-paste' method). Commonwealth citizens who are established in the UK can be knighted for services to Britain. The former chancellor of Cambridge University, Sir Alec Broers, is Australian, and the former Garter King of Arms, Sir Conrad Swan, is Canadian. In decades past Commonwealth citizens, such as dominion prime ministers, used to be knighted for services to their own countries, but this is no longer true of the bigger countries which retain the Queen as head of state (if not all - I'm not sure). Knighthoods are still given out each year in the dependent territories (colonies).

Anyone who obtains British citizenship is eligible, including Americans like Sir Paul Getty. Citizens of republics who do not have UK nationality can only have an honorary knighthood (they get the initials KBE or Kt after their name, but no 'Sir').

The Beatles received the MBE in 1965, which is the lowest level of the honours system, for services to export, not music. Paul McCartney was later knighted for services to music. Entertainers and athletes get more honours now than they used to (Oympic gold medallists used to get the MBE, but Kelly Holmes was made a dame). There are different orders of knighthood, some of which are higher than others (Knights of the Garter, an order founded 1348, limited to 24 and chosen by the queen, are the highest). Most knights are knights of the British Empire (est. 1918) or knights bachelor, who do not belong to a specific order.

Answer 8

Nobody actually knows.  I mean look at some of the good work done and not rewarded and then they go and give it to a pop star.  Some are politically motivated, i.e. get rid of them who are a nuisance to the Govt. and shift them upstairs to the Lords to sleep the time out of the way.  I believe the Queen enjoys bestowing Knighthoods, but has no real say in it. The whole thing stinks that's what I think anyway.