# Bono, a non-U.K. or Commonwealth citizen made KBE??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bono-a-non-u-k-or-commonwealth-citizen-made-kbe/397996 "2007-03-29T16:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bono-a-non-u-k-or-commonwealth-citizen-made-kbe/397996/1 "2007-03-29T16:46:38Z")
[This story of Bono’s Knighthood](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070329/ap_en_ot/people_bono) came as a bit of a surprise to me. Bono is neither a citizen of the U.K. nor is he a citizen of any British Commonwealth nation. The article addresses that fact merely to point out that he will not be addressed as “Sir”. Still, I was surprised to hear that the U.K. knights non-citizens _at all_. How common is it for a non-citizen to be made a Knight or a Dame? ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bono-a-non-u-k-or-commonwealth-citizen-made-kbe/397996/2 "2007-03-29T17:11:35Z")
Bob Geldolf, Ronald Reagan, George Bush senior, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Rudolph Giuliani, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg… Yup, it’s pretty common. Frankly, it’s not that different from giving Tony Blair a Congressional Gold Medal. Or Sylvester Stallone getting the Légion d’honneur. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bono-a-non-u-k-or-commonwealth-citizen-made-kbe/397996/3 "2007-03-29T17:16:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Bob Geldolf, Ronald Reagan, George Bush senior, Norman Schwarzkopf, Colin Powell, Rudolph Giuliani, Bill Gates, Steven Spielberg… Yup, it’s pretty common. Also Dwight Eisenhower, George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, Carl Spaatz, Jimmy Doolittle, and Placido Domingo (whose contributions to winning WWII are often overshadowed by his later musical career). ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bono-a-non-u-k-or-commonwealth-citizen-made-kbe/397996/4 "2007-03-29T18:02:40Z")
> **[List of honorary British knights and dames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honorary_British_Knights)** > > Many people have been created honorary Knights or Dames by the British crown, as well as those who have been raised to the two comparable Orders of Chivalry (Order of Merit and Order of the Companions of Honour) and the Royal Victorian Chain, which do not carry pre-nominal styles. > 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), subjec... The conductor Georg Solti was awarded an honourary KBE. Later, he became a naturalised British citizen, and then took the title ‘Sir’. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bono-a-non-u-k-or-commonwealth-citizen-made-kbe/397996/5 "2007-03-29T18:22:13Z")
FWIW, my grandfather (an American) was knighted for his efforts at fighting smallpox in Tanganyika during the 1930s.