List of Honorary British Knights and Dames

List Of Honorary British Knights And Dames

This is an incomplete list of people who 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.

Use of pre-nominal styles and post-nominal initials. 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), subject to the prevailing conventions in his or her own country. If such a person later acquires citizenship of a Commonwealth realm, then any honorary awards usually become substantive, and in the case of knights and dames they can begin to use the pre-nominal styles.

Loss of citizenship of a British realm. Citizens of a country which was a full part of the British Empire when they received the honour (i.e. who were British subjects at the time), were substantive knights or dames, not honorary. This includes the Indian Princely States, although some chose not to use their titles after their country became independent. Citizens of British protectorates and mandated territories, however, received honorary awards.

Annulment and restoration. In certain circumstances, an honorary award may be annulled (i.e. revoked). The effect is that, officially, the person is considered never to have been given the award, their name is erased from the order's register, and they are required to return all insignia. This happens when the Sovereign issues a signed and sealed ordinance cancelling and annulling the appointment. This is not common and in practice only occurs where the recipient has engaged in serious detrimental activities, e.g. following a conviction for serious crimes, or for hostile acts against the United Kingdom. In rare circumstances, an annulled award may later be restored by the Sovereign. Details of known annulments and restorations are annotated in the table below.

For a more comprehensive list, see List of revocations of appointments to orders and awarded decorations and medals of the United Kingdom.

Order of the Garter terminology. The Order of the Garter uses terminology different from that of most other British orders. 'Extra Knights Companion of the Garter' and 'Extra Ladies of the Order of the Garter' are the equivalent of 'Honorary Knights' and 'Honorary Dames' in other orders. As with other orders, the pre-nominal styles 'Sir' and 'Lady' are not used by Extra Knights and Extra Ladies. Revoked appointments are said to be 'degraded' rather than 'annulled'; the effect, however, is the same.