Yesterday’s post concerned antique British positions associated with the Royal Household. Today I want to talk about distinctions that are handed out by the crown, twice annually – the Birthday Honours List and the New Year’s Honours list. Chief among these are awards of the various ranks of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
There are five ranks and from top to bottom they are the Knight (or Dame) Grand Cross, Knight/Dame Commander, Commander, Officer, and Member of the order. Holders of the first two may style themselves Knight or Dame, while the others are granted postnominals (lovely word) CBE, OBE, and MBE. These honours are granted for service to the nation in the arts, sciences, and charitable organizations. The Civil Service and the Military have their own systems.
So hats off to Sir Paul McCartney, Dame Helen Mirren, and Sir Mick Jagger and the host of others who have deserved well of the commonweal and have been invited to Buckingham Palace where they were invested by the Queen or another member of the Royal Family.
A large number of British notables have refused the offer of such honours for various reasons. Winston Churchill, for example, turned down a dukedom because it would mean his having to leave the House of Commons for the House of Lords. T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) declined a knighthood out of anger at what he saw as British betrayal of the Arabs, while George Bernard Shaw turned up his nose at the Order of Merit believing that an author’s merit could only be determined by the posthumous verdict of history.
Others who more recently declined to accept an honour include Henry Moore (sculptor), Francis Bacon (painter), Francis Crick (scientist), Roald Dahl (author), Lucien Freud (painter), Robert Graves (author), and Aldous Huxley (author). CS Lewis turned down a CBE in 1952 because he thought it “too political”.
The prize for the most determined decliner was the artist LS Lowry who refused an OBE, a CBE, a knighthood, and (twice) being named Companion of Honour (an exclusive award limited to 47 Britons). Lowry’s excuse was a severe case of anti-monarchy.
Others chose to make a spectacle of their refusal. John Lennon, who with his Beatlemates received an MBE in1965, returned his medal with a note to the Queen: “Your Majesty, I am returning this in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.” The band’s George Harrison apparently declined a mere CBE because Paul McCartney had been granted a knighthood.
The poet Benjamin Zephaniah turned down an OBE, saying in his poetical way “No way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly antiempire. … It reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.” The tiresome left-wing scold Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was moved by his example and returned her insignia, saying, “I was stupid once and allowed myself to accept an MBE, partly to please my mum. Then Benjamin Zephaniah shamed me. I returned the lovely object and have had to put up with scorn ever since, some deserved.”