Titles are awarded to people who have achieved greatness for a wide number of reasons. This is obviously in the opinion of the monarch, prime minister or leader / board of an institution. This can mean that some people are awarded a level of respectability that the majority of the general public would strongly disagree with but because they are ‘good buddies’ with the king or prime minister they given the award. Some people have been known to turn down an award if they don’t like or respect the leader offering the award although this is rare. The system is not perfect by any means and some professions have followed suit to award trophies to their own kind and pat themselves on the back for being so utterly brilliant that they need a trophy on the shelf so that any visitors to their property can marvel how absolutely fabulous they are. This is of course blown completely out of the water by the acting profession with their numerous awards and ceremonies where ‘so called’ celebrities clap and cheer for their mate who ‘pretended’ to be a soldier or king and got paid huge sums of money for doing so. We considered holding the Fat Badger awards with categories for ‘Best Falling Over Drunk’, ‘Funniest Put Down of a Fellow Drinker’ and ‘Best Joke Overheard from Another Table’ until we got too drunk and forgot all about it. Mostly though because we didn’t want to sit through hours of Badgers thanking their mums and their pet stick insect and because we didn’t want Grumpy Old Badger giving us a lecture about how wrong the whole selection process was. Universities will even give out honorary professorships or doctorates to actors even though they have their own award ceremonies. Somebody can spend years studying and training to achieve a level of knowledge in their field only to find that their wife or husband gets given one because they once appeared in Coronation Street. Such as Lady Pamela Stephenson who worked for a PhD in Clinical Psychology from California Graduate Institute only to find that her husband Sir William Connolly was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) degree by the University of Glasgow in 2001, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) by Nottingham Trent University and in 2017 received the Honorary degree of Doctor of the University (D.Univ) from University of Strathclyde in Glasgow for telling jokes. Actually we think this is OK because Billy Connolly thinks it’s quite funny that his wife is a little annoyed that she had to study for her qualifications and he got his for free and we think the ‘Big Yin’ is very funny so if it’s OK for him is OK for us. We always found Jimmy Saville creepy though.

Royal and Noble Titles

These are inherited or granted by the monarch.

• Duke/Duchess • Marquess/Marchioness • Earl/Countess • Viscount/Viscountess • Baron/Baroness • Lord/Lady (often used informally or for members of the peerage) • Prince/Princess • King/Queen (reigning monarchs only)

Knighthoods and Chivalric Orders

Granted by the monarch for service to the nation.

• Knight / Dame (e.g., Sir John Smith, Dame Judi Dench) • Orders of Chivalry (descending in precedence): o Order of the Garter (KG/LG) – highest order o Order of the Thistle (KT/LT) o Order of the Bath (GCB, KCB/DCB, CB) o Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG, KCMG/DCMG, CMG) o Royal Victorian Order (GCVO, KCVO/DCVO, CVO, LVO, MVO) o Order of the British Empire (GBE, KBE/DBE, CBE, OBE, MBE)

Civic and Courtesy Titles

Some are honorary and others reflect office or ceremonial roles.

• The Right Honourable – for members of the Privy Council or senior politicians • The Honourable – for children of viscounts and barons • His/Her Worship – for mayors and magistrates • Alderman – senior member of a municipal council • Freeman/Freedom of the City – honorary title granted by a city • High Sheriff – ceremonial county position • Deputy Lieutenant (DL) – ceremonial county appointment • Lord-Lieutenant (LL) – monarch’s representative in a county

Academic and Professional Honorary Titles

Awarded by universities, professional bodies, or cultural institutions.

• Honorary Doctorate (Hon. D.Litt., Hon. D.Sc., etc.) • Fellowships (FRS, FBA, etc.) o FRS: Fellow of the Royal Society o FBA: Fellow of the British Academy • Poet Laureate – national honorary title for poetry • Honorary Professor – granted for distinction in a field without a formal teaching position
The British class system has over many hundreds of years created titles awarded by the monarchy, government or institutions for services to the country or specific fields.
British honorary titles

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