The brown goop labelled “Marmite” in New Zealand is not remotely the same as proper British Marmite, knighthoods or no knighthoods.
One important point about the rule that non-British citizens who receive British honours don’t get to use that title is that it is reciprocal - British citizens who receive honours from anyone other than the Queen are also not supposed to use those titles. (The cases where this applies are now mostly papal knighthoods.)
Who in Canada was annoyed? Who cared, other than Conrad Black?
Alas, it’s only Conrad Black and perhaps his wife who care now.
The quickest way is be a British citizen who’s good at a sport. Winning two Olympic gold medals is probably the fastest way of all, though perhaps not as easy as completing a career in the civil service.
Well, I doubt that Canadians were marching in the streets in protest, but then PM Jean Chretien did complain about it.
Exactly why I would never accept one (not that I would ever be offered one). The whole system is archaic and if not corrupt then certainly stinks of cronyism.
While it’s not a knighthood, even David Cameron’s hairdresser has received an MBE.
Sorry if this is off topic, don’t want to turn it into a GD.
So, who’d win in a fight between a Scottish knight and a Kentucky Colonel?
Because “Sir Bob” is fun to say.
ISTR Anthony Hopkins lost the right to be referred to as “Sir Anthony” when he became a naturalized US citizen, despite retaining his British citizenship (and the knighthood).
He had to renounce his fealty to the crown in the oath of naturalization but that has no legal effect as far as Britain is concerned.
From Yes, Minister - “Doing the Honours”:
Bernard explains to the Minister the honours available to senior Civil Servants.
Hacker: Well, what has Sir Arnold to fear, anyway? He’s got all the honours he could want, surely?
Bernard: Well, naturally he has his G.
Hacker: G?
Bernard: Yes; you get your G after your K.
Hacker: You speak in riddles, Bernard.
Bernard: Well, take the Foreign Office. First you get the CMG, then the KCMG, then the GCMG; the Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, Knight Commander of St Michael and St George, Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George. Of course, in the Service, CMG stands for “Call Me God,” and KCMG for “Kindly Call Me God.”
Hacker: [chuckles] What does GCMG stand for?
Bernard: “God Calls Me God.”
“Nobility” isn’t a well-defined term, but in the UK at any rate knights are not considered to be noble. Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts and Barons all used to have seats in the House of Lords, and (until the introduction of life peerages some time in the 1950s) their titles were all hereditary. They were considered to constitute the nobility. The title of “knight” is a personal honour; it’s not hereditary, and it never carried a right to participate in the House of Lords. Knights were not considered to be part of the nobility. A baronetcy is hereditary, but never carried a seat in the House of Lords; baronets, too, were not considered to be part of the nobility.
Honours, possibly, but the OP asks specifically about knighthoods. You don’t get a knighthood for fifty years’ loyal service as an ambulance volunteer.
Not always. The Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, and the Royal Victorian Order all within the Queen’s personal gift; they aren’t granted on the advice of any government.
True, but to get one of these what you have to do is convince the Queen that you are a Splendid Chap, and the Queen’s criteria for Splendidity appear to be remarkably similar to the government’s, with the exception that in place of bunging large sums at a political party you can impress the Queen by marrying one of her relatives.
(Cynical? Moi?)
But even then, she doesn’t give out knighthoods in countries where the government policy is against it. When she wanted to give the Garter to Vincent Massey, she knew it would make waves, so she asked the government’s opinion first (they said no). And the current Governor-General of Australia just has a piddly little CVO even though a GCVO would have been automatic twenty or thirty years ago.
That would be … AWESOME.
“A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a monarch or other political leader for service to the monarch or country, especially in a military capacity. Historically, in Europe, knighthood has been conferred upon mounted warriors.[1] During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior. Since the Early Modern period, the title of knight is purely honorific, usually bestowed by a monarch, as in the British honours system, often for non-military service to the country.”
The Colonel has greater range than the knight, so it would depend on whether or not the Colonel saw him coming from far enough away.
During the hundred years war it was quite possible to buy a knighthood, and for a while was even compulsory once you passed a certain level of wealth, a nice source of income for the Crown. It wasn’t nobility. In the Anglo-Saxon period, whence the word knight, it meant a mounted servant.