To all pathetic sinkie dumbfucks here, the true meaning of being knighted
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders,_decorations,_and_medals_of_the_United_Kingdom
As the head of state, the Sovereign remains the "fount of honour",[1] but the system for identifying and recognising candidates to honour has changed considerably over time.
Various orders of knighthood have been created (see below) as well as awards for military service, bravery, merit, and achievement which take the form of decorations or medals.
Most medals are not graded. Each one recognises specific service and as such there are normally set criteria which must be met. These criteria may include a period of time and will often delimit a particular geographic region. Medals are not normally presented by the Sovereign. A full list is printed in the "order of wear", published infrequently by the London Gazette.
Honours are split into classes ("orders") and are graded to distinguish different degrees of achievement or service. There are no criteria to determine these levels; various honours committees meet to discuss the candidates and decide which ones deserve which type of award and at what level.[2] Since their decisions are inevitably subjective, the twice-yearly honours lists often provoke criticism from those who feel strongly about particular cases.[3][4] Candidates are identified by public or private bodies, by government departments or are nominated by members of the public.
Depending on their roles, those people selected by committee are submitted either to the Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, or Secretary of State for Defence for their approval before being sent to the Sovereign for final approval. Certain honours are awarded solely at the Sovereign's discretion, such as the Order of the Garter,[5] the Order of the Thistle, the Royal Victorian Order,[6] the Order of Merit[7] and the Royal Family Order.
A complete list of approximately 1350 names is published twice a year, at New Year and on the date of the Sovereign's (official) birthday. The awards are then presented by the Sovereign or her designated representative. The Prince of Wales and The Princess Royal have deputised for The Queen at investiture ceremonies at Buckingham Palace.
By convention, a departing Prime Minister is allowed to nominate Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, to reward political and personal service. In recent history, only Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not taken up this privilege (although Brown did issue the 2010 Dissolution Honours to similar effect).
Knighthood for Microsoft's Gates
Knighthood for Microsoft's Gates
Bill Gates and the Queen chatted about computers
The king of computer software Bill Gates has received an honorary knighthood from the Queen.
Mr Gates, 48, the world's wealthiest man, said it was "a great honour" to be recognised for his business skills and for his work on poverty reduction.
The Queen had spoken to him about using computers, he said after a private audience with her.
As an American citizen he cannot use the title "Sir" but will be entitled to put the letters KBE after his name.
'Travel talk'
The entrepreneur was handed an insignia to make him a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
We talked about using computers, and the foundation, and about her travels and ours
Bill Gates
Profile: Bill Gates
He was joined at Buckingham Palace by wife Melinda.
"It's not as natural [using computers] for the Queen as it is for young people," he said.
"She was very nice.
"We talked about using computers, and the foundation, and about her travels and ours."
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is currently working on a global health programme in the developing world.
Mrs Gates said: "We talked a lot about the developing world - it was very engaging."
Research laboratory
Before the private audience, Mr Gates met the Duke of Edinburgh, who is chancellor of Cambridge University, to talk about Microsoft Research Cambridge.
The research laboratory is the first of its kind outside the US.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation tackles global health
Honorary awards to foreign nationals are conferred by the Queen on the advice of the foreign secretary.
Jack Straw said he was "delighted" Mr Gates had been honoured.
He added: "He is one of the most important global business leaders of this age."
Aids vaccine
Mr Gates set up Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen, and by last year was worth an estimated £28bn.
HONORARY KNIGHTS
Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof
Film director Steven Spielberg
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Opera star Placido Domingo
The Reverend Billy Graham
DNA pioneer James Watson
Comedian Spike Milligan
Former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani
He and his wife, who have three children, are also known for their charitable work.
As well as investing millions in research for an Aids vaccine, their foundation has also established a scholarship scheme to enable the brightest students to go to Cambridge University.
But Microsoft has been convicted of anti-competitive behaviour in the USA and is being investigated in Europe.
Other Americans who have received the KBE include former president George Bush Senior, former Mayor of New York Rudolph Giuliani and film director Steven Spielberg.
--------------
Knighthood for Branson
Sir Richard Branson: Knighted for contribution to commerce
Sir Richard Branson, the entrepreneur and adventurer who created the Virgin empire, has been knighted in a spectacular millennium New Year Honours list.
The tycoon tops a list of 2,000 - more than double the usual length - including a dazzling array of stars from showbusiness and sport.
Click here to see the list in full.
Forgotten heroes honoured
The five "forgotten" heroes of England's 1966 Football World Cup winning side - Alan Ball, George Cohen, Roger Hunt, Nobby Stiles and Ray Wilson - are celebrating after all become MBEs - Member of the British Empire.
A glittering roll of honour in the world of entertainment is headed by eight-times-married Oscar-winner Elizabeth Taylor, 67, who becomes a dame in the Diplomatic List.
And retiring BBC director-general Sir John Birt becomes a peer. He is to leave the corporation two months early to take up his seat.
I will do my best to live up to it in the new millennium, as I still feel there is much to be achieved
Sir Richard Branson
But the honours are a time when the famous and the powerful stand alongside ordinary people who have made extraordinary contributions to society.
And with the celebrities stands a grieving mother who worked tirelessly for children suffering from the condition which killed her son.
Elizabeth Taylor becomes a dame
Shirley Nolan, 57, set up the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust which was the world's first national tissue register for people with leukaemia and other immune deficiency diseases. She is awarded an Order of the British Empire.
Julie Andrews, 64, star of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, becomes a dame, as does the veteran singing star Shirley Bassey.
Norman Wisdom, reportedly one of the Queen's favourite comedians, becomes a knight after being awarded an OBE four years ago.
And Sean Connery, the first James Bond, gets his knighthood at last.
At last 007: Sean Connery
Two years ago the honour was controversially refused by the then Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar because of Connery's support for the Scottish National Party.
Connery, 69, said: "I accept with pleasure because I consider it as much an honour for Scotland as it is for me."
Elsewhere there was a Command of the British Empire for Michael Palin, once a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus and now the BBC's globe-trotter.
In the world of sport, there is an OBE for Steve Ovett, 44, who with Seb Coe, ushered in a golden age for British athletics 20 years ago.
World champion hurdler Colin Jackson, arguably Britain's most successful sportsman in 1999, also gets an OBE.
Former heavyweight boxer Henry Cooper, 65, becomes a knight, as does the Grand Old Man of British motor racing, 70-year-old Stirling Moss.
There is an MBE for former Arsenal and Manchester United star Viv Anderson, the first black footballer to represent England and a similar honour for Steve Bull, Wolverhampton Wanderers' long-serving goal machine.
Julie Andrews: A dame
Ian Wright, the former England and Arsenal striker - now with Celtic - gets an MBE. Golfer Laura Davies gets a CBE.
There is an OBE for snooker's Steve "Interesting" Davis, 42.
And Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, the Olympic-winning skating duo, each get an OBE.
Sir John Birt is among six people elevated to the peerage.
Others include Sir Leon Brittan, former home secretary and vice-president of the European Commission, and Sally Greengross, director-general of Age Concern.
Joel Joffe, the Oxfam chairman; Adam Patel, vice-president of Blackburn Community Relations Council and counsellor, Muslim Council for Britain; and Sir Charles David Powell, director of Jardine Matheson Holdings, who was Margaret Thatcher's foreign affairs adviser at 10 Downing Street are the other new peers.
One of the oldest recipients of honours is Frances Partridge, who will be 100 in March.
She gets a CBE, and is regarded as The Last of the Bloomsbury Set, a group of radical aesthetes famous around the 1920s.
There is also an OBE in the Diplomatic List for Clive Stafford-Smith, who has campaigned for years for the lives of condemned prisoners on Death Row in the United States.
