Paul Reeves - Honours and Other Awards

Honours and Other Awards

Reeves was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), he was appointed a Chaplain of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in April 1982, Knight Bachelor in the New Zealand Birthday Honours 1985, a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George on 6 November 1985, a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in 1986, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 2 March 1986. In 1990 he became a Companion of the Queen's Service Order. Reeves was also made a Companion of the Order of Fiji.

There was some concern regarding Reeves' using the title Sir, as members of the clergy in the Church of England do not usually receive this title when knighted, and the same rule presumably applied to the Anglican Church in New Zealand. To avoid placing the Queen in an awkward situation (Governors General would by tradition be knighted by her in person at Buckingham Palace), the Prime Minister of the time, David Lange, made Reeves a Knight Bachelor before meeting her. Consequently, when Reeves went to receive the GCMG from the Queen, he was already Sir Paul.

On Waitangi Day 2007 he was awarded New Zealand's highest honour, being admitted to the Order of New Zealand.

The University of Oxford conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in 1985 and his college, St Peter's, appointed him an Honorary Fellow in 1981 and a Trustee in 1994. A Fellowship of St John's College, Auckland followed in 1989. He has received other honorary degrees, including an LLD of Victoria University of Wellington (1989), a DD of the General Theological Seminary, New York (1992), and the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Edinburgh (1994).

Changes to the rules in 2006 allowed him to use the style The Honourable for life.