I burn with envy. The rest of us are damsels in distress compared to Kiwi Knights and their reinstated Royal Honours System, what Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, Editor of Burke's Peerage and Gentry,
confided to me as being the "most finely crafted honours system in the Commonwealth" outside of the United Kingdom.
Queen Elizabeth II confered the honour of Knighthood to Sir Donald McKinnon inside Buckingham Palace, 9 July 2009. Sir Donald served as Commonwealth Secretary General for eight years from 2000-2008, following a 21-year career in New Zealand politics, during which he held a number of senior posts including that of Deputy Prime Minister.Government House in New Zealand has
recently announced 70 new Knights and Dames as a result of the government's reinstatement of titular honours. Among those who received the equivalent of titular honours since they were abolished by the Labour government in 2000,
fully 87 percent accepted the title of Sir or Dame, putting former Prime Minister Helen Clark's repulsion of honourific rank firmly in the minority.
Carpet knights they may be, but chivalry is alive and well in New Zealand!
Might I respectfully suggest that the editors consign Miss Clark to history and give current New Zealand Prime Minister John Key his place among the Commonwealth Prime Ministers, both as of 2008?
ReplyDeleteIndeed. New Zealand is enjoying a Restoration of sorts. John Key is not just a conservative (how does one conserve that which is lost), but a traditional monarchist of the first rank.
ReplyDelete