A host of famous figures, including several with Irish links, have quietly turned down, returned or publicly rejected New Year and Birthday Honours over the years.
File photo of King Charles during his coronation(Image: Getty Images)
The New Year and Birthday Honours lists have long been regarded as prestigious accolades, celebrating people for their exceptional contributions to public service and society. While primarily a UK tradition, these honours resonate beyond Britain and can spark interest here in Ireland.
These lists, issued biannually in the UK, include a mix of civilian achievers and high profile celebrities, with awards such as knighthoods, damehoods and MBEs bestowed upon recipients. However, not everyone who is offered an honour accepts it.
While it’s unusual to publicly disclose a refusal, there have been notable instances where those who have declined the monarch’s offer have made their decision public. There have also been leaks from official sources at times.
There are also instances where someone accepts an honour only to return it later. Potential recipients are contacted about six weeks before any public announcement to confirm in writing that they wish to be nominated for an honour, in an effort to avoid any awkward situations.
Big names like literary giant Roald Dahl, music icon David Bowie and director Alfred Hitchcock have passed on the Royal honours. Even artist LS Lowry turned down a staggering five awards.
By 2012, official numbers showed 277 people had snubbed New Year or Birthday Honours from 1951 to 1999. It used to be hush-hush, but now celebrities are more vocal about sharing their snubs.
This year, Idris Elba, ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and England’s women’s football and rugby teams were among 1,157 people recognised in the New Year Honours list.
Here’s a closer look at some of the most memorable names who turned down Royal honours and their reasons why.
Michael Sheen
He bagged an OBE in 2009 for his acting, but gave it back in 2017. Diving deep into the history of England and Wales changed his mind.
He told Owen Jones in The Guardian in 2020: “By the time I had finished writing that lecture…I remember sitting there going: ‘Well, I have a choice – I either don’t give this lecture and hold on to my OBE or I give this lecture and I have to give my OBE back.”
While he may pride himself on his Welsh roots, the Hollywood star’s ancestors are from Ireland.
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
The comedic duo turned their backs on OBEs “for services to comedy drama” back in 2001, only publicly disclosing their reasons for the snub later on. Saunders spoke candidly with Source magazine saying: “If I felt I deserved a damehood I’d accept it. At the time we felt that we were being paid very well to have a lot of fun. It didn’t seem right somehow. We didn’t deserve a pat on the back. It felt a bit fake to stand alongside people who devoted their lives to truly worthy causes.”
John Lydon
John Lydon, who was born in London to Irish parents, was in the running to represent Ireland in the 2024 Eurovision. Known for his renegade spirit, he was offered an MBE. Being a former member of the Sex Pistols, whose track God Save the Queen hit the charts during the Queen’s silver jubilee, it comes as little surprise that he rejected the honour.
David Bowie
The music legend made it clear why he shunned the opportunity to be knighted, stating: “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”
On Mick Jagger’s acceptance, Bowie diplomatically remarked: “It’s not my place to make a judgment on Jagger – it’s his decision. But it’s just not for me.”
Roald Dahl
Famous for tales such as ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and ‘James and the Giant Peach’, Dahl declined a knighthood offered in the 1986 New Year’s honours. The revelation came through a Telegraph freedom of information request, but the justification for his refusal wasn’t disclosed.
Nigella Lawson
The culinary star has openly admitted she rejected an OBE offer in 2001 explaining: “I’m not saving lives and I’m not doing anything other than something I absolutely love.”
Stephen Hawking
In 2008, he told how in the late 1990s he had been offered a knighthood but turned it down. It was later suggested that his decision was influenced by the Government’s policies on science funding and cuts, despite already holding a CBE title.
Paul Weller
The music legend politely declined a CBE in 2006. His representative noted in a statement: “Paul was surprised and flattered but it wasn’t really for him.”
John Lennon
The Beatles icon initially accepted an MBE, but in 1969 he chose to return it in a stand against Britain’s foreign policy engagements. He penned the memorable line: “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. With Love, John Lennon of Bag.”
John Cleese
The Monty Python stalwart was considered for a CBE in 1996, but famously deemed them “silly”. A peerage was also on the table in 1999 from Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown; however, Cleese felt the obligation to stay in chilly England during winter as a working peer would be “too much of a price to pay”.
George Harrison
The former Beatle turned an OBE down in 2000, after Paul McCartney was awarded a knighthood. Every Beatles member was awarded an MBE in 1965 but John Lennon returned his. It’s thought he was put forward for his contribution to music but there was speculation Harrison would have been insulted that bandmate McCartney got his knighthood three years before.
Friend Roy Connolly told the Independent: “Whoever it was who decided to offer him the OBE and not the knighthood was extraordinarily insensitive. George would have felt insulted – and with very good reason.”
Ken Loach
Ken Loach turned down an OBE in 1977. His films focus on social issues such as poverty and homelessness. He told the Radio Times in 2001: “It’s all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy, and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and conquest. I turned down the OBE because it’s not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who’ve got it.”
Jon Snow
He’s the face that used to front Channel 4 News – not to be confused with the Game of Thrones icon. He gave a polite ‘no thanks’ to an OBE in 2000 and went full snoop two years later with a documentary called Secrets of the Honours System. Snow said: “I tried to find out why I’d been given it and was unable to get a clear answer or, indeed, to find out who had proposed me,”.
Danny Boyle
Film director Danny has revealed he declined an honour for his role in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, stating it “was wrong” to take individual credit for a collective effort. “It’s just not me,” he remarked, emphasizing that the success of the ceremony was down to the contributions of thousands.
He continued: “You can make these speeches about: ‘This is everybody’s work, blah blah blah’. And you’ve got to mean it, and I did mean it, and it is true, and it’s the only way you can carry on something like that: through the efforts of all the people. I don’t know whether I’ll ever get invited back to the palace.”
Bernie Ecclestone
The former chief of Formula One Group, who pleaded guilty to fraud over undeclared assets worth £400m (€481m), also refused an honour in the early 2000s. In a 2019 interview, he explained that while he was pleased to have done some good, his primary motivation in business wasn’t to earn accolades, so he didn’t believe he deserved the honour.
LS Lowry
The renowned painter is said to have rejected more honours than anyone else, including a knighthood, a CBE and an OBE. His friend Harold Riley disclosed that Lowry was a private man who didn’t want the attention or to change his name, which played a part in his decision to turn down the honours.
Huw T Edwards
The Welsh trade unionist and Welsh Labour politician was uncomfortable with honours and refused a knighthood on at least two occasions in subsequent years. He had previously accepted an MBE before later renouncing it.
Rudyard Kipling
The writer and poet declined a knighthood in 1899 and again in 1903. His wife said that Kipling felt he could “do his work better without it”. Kipling also declined the Order of Merit in 1921 and again in 1924. Kipling expressed his own view on the importance of titles and poetry in his poem The Last Rhyme of True Thomas.
Honor Blackman
Before her death in 2020 the Bond actress was a vocal supporter of Republic – a campaign for an elected head of state in the UK – so it’s hardly surprising that she turned down a CBE in 2002. Blackman also publicly criticised fellow Bond star Sir Sean Connery for his tax-evading habits.
She said in 2012: “I don’t think you should accept a title from a country and then pay absolutely no tax towards it. I don’t think his principles are very high.”
Benjamin Zephaniah
The poet, who died in December 2023 aged 65,publicly rejected an OBE in 2003 in protest at British government policies and the British Empire. Writing in the Guardian he said the word ’empire’ “reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised”. The writer described himself as “profoundly anti-empire”.
Jim Broadbent
The national treasure snubbed an OBE in 2002, explaining that he couldn’t reconcile with actors receiving Royal accolades He told the Telegraph: “I think [honours] ought to go to those who really help others. Besides I like the idea of actors not being part of the Establishment. We’re vagabonds and rogues.”
Broadbent also expressed his unease with the honours’ undercurrents, revealing: “I don’t think the British Empire is something that I particularly want to celebrate.”
Albert Finney
He shunned both a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood two decades later. The Bourne actor lambasted the honours system, terming knighthoods as a symptom of sickness that “perpetuates snobbery”.
Andrew Davies
The Welsh scriptwriter famed for House of Cards and his version of Pride and Prejudice, reportedly refused an honour, although his motives remain undisclosed.
Alan Rickman
The cherished actor is believed to have declined a CBE during his lifetime. He never disclosed why, and after his death, there has been a movement seeking to award him a knighthood posthumously, but no progress on this has emerged.
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