In the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories, personal bravery, achievement, or service are rewarded with honours. The honours system consists of three types of award:
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order.
Sir is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part of "Monsieur", with the equivalent "My Lord" in English.
The order of precedence in the United Kingdom is the sequential hierarchy for Peers of the Realm, officers of state, senior members of the clergy, holders of the various Orders of Chivalry, and is mostly determined, but not limited to, birth order, place in the line of succession, or distance from the reigning monarch. The order of precedence can also be applied to other persons in the three legal jurisdictions within the United Kingdom:
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior military officers or senior civil servants, and the monarch awards it on the advice of His Majesty's Government. The name derives from an elaborate medieval ceremony for preparing a candidate to receive his knighthood, of which ritual bathing was an element. While not all knights went through such an elaborate ceremony, knights so created were known as "knights of the Bath".
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour of two military saints, Michael and George.
The following is the order of precedence in England and Wales as of January 2025. Separate orders exist for men and women.
The order of precedence in Scotland was fixed by Royal Warrant in 1905. Amendments were made by further Warrants in 1912, 1952, 1958, 1999 and most recently in 2012.
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the monarch. The present monarch, King Charles III, is the sovereign of the order. The order's motto is Victoria. The order's official day is 20 June. The order's chapel is the Savoy Chapel in London.
The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:
- Knight Grand Commander (GCSI)
- Knight Commander (KCSI)
- Companion (CSI)
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:
- Knight Grand Commander (GCIE)
- Knight Commander (KCIE)
- Companion (CIE)
Ralph Francis Alnwick Grey, Baron Grey of Naunton, was a New Zealand peer who served as the last Governor of Northern Ireland. He was created a Life Peer as Baron Grey of Naunton on 17 September 1968.
Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock,, known as Sir Arthur Nicolson, 11th Baronet, from 1899 to 1916, was a British diplomat and politician during the last quarter of the 19th century to the middle of World War I.
Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys, was a British courtier. He served as Private Secretary to the Sovereign from 1901 to 1913.
General Richard Airey, 1st Baron Airey,, known as Sir Richard Airey between 1855 and 1876, was a senior British Army officer of the 19th century.
George Edward John Mowbray Rous, 3rd Earl of Stradbroke, was a British nobleman from Suffolk who served as a Territorial Army officer, as a junior government minister, and as the 15th Governor of Victoria, Australia.
Knight Commander is the second most senior grade of seven British orders of chivalry, three of which are dormant. The rank entails admission into knighthood, allowing the recipient to use the title 'Sir' (male) or 'Dame' (female) before his or her name. In the British system of precedence, Knights Commander rank after the Order of the Companions of Honour and before Knights Bachelor.
Francis John Stephens Hopwood, 1st Baron Southborough, was a British civil servant and solicitor. Over the course of his official career, Hopwood served as permanent secretary to the Board of Trade and the Colonial Office, a member of the Board of Admiralty, and secretary to the Irish Convention. In addition, he served on numerous commissions and was sent by the British government to Scandinavia in 1917 to secretly investigate rumours of Austrian peace proposals. Highly regarded as a civil servant, Hopwood was described by his obituarist as "a civil servant all the time, and a very correct one, whose personal views and contributions to discussions or action were never trumpeted in public".
The order of precedence in Ireland was fixed by Royal Warrant on 2 January 1897 during Ireland's ties to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The order of wear of Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom is published by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood in the London Gazette.
