As the New Year’s honours list is unveiled, here are some stars who have turned down an honour from the Queen – or, indeed, passed it back at a later date…
The New Year’s and birthday honours lists are often viewed as the ultimate recognition of a life spent in public service. These lists, brimming with thousands of names from all over the UK, both celeb and civilian, celebrate their accomplishments and contributions with awards like knighthoods, damehoods, or MBEs.
The latest list is due to be revealed on the evening of 30 December 2024. However, not everyone who is offered an honour accepts it. While it’s rare to publicly announce a refusal, there have been significant cases where those who have declined the monarch’s offer have made their decision known. There have also been leaks from official sources occasionally.
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.
During Queen Elizabeth II’s seven-decade reign, many thousands of people, some famous and many less so, were recognised in the biannual honours lists. This year’s New Year’s list will, of course, be King Charles’ honours announcement, reports the Mirror. Big names like literary giant Roald Dahl, music icon David Bowie, and ace director Alfred Hitchcock have passed on the Royal honours. Even artist LS Lowry turned down a staggering five awards-a record.
According to the records, 277 individuals declined New Year or Birthday Honours between 1951 and 1999. While such incidents were once kept under wraps, celebrities today are more open about rejecting honours. So, who has politely declined?
Michael Sheen
Actor Michael Sheen was awarded an OBE in 2009 but returned it in 2017 after researching the history of England and Wales. “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,'” he revealed to Owen Jones in The Guardian in 2020.
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
Comedians Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders declined OBEs “for services to comedy drama” in 2001, later explaining their reasoning publicly. Saunders told Source magazine: “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.”
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.” Regarding Sir Mick Jagger’s knighthood, Bowie remained neutral, commenting: “It’s not my place to make a judgment on Jagger – it’s his decision. But it’s just not for me.”
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl, the beloved author behind classics such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, also said no to a knighthood 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 candidly shared that she turned down an OBE in 2001, stating: “I’m not saving lives and I’m not doing anything other than something I absolutely love.”
Stephen Hawking
The renowned physicist disclosed in 2008 that he had been offered a knighthood in the late 1990s but declined. Speculation suggests that his decision may have been influenced by the government’s stance on science funding and cuts, even though he already had a CBE to his name.
Paul Weller
Music legend Paul Weller gracefully rejected a CBE in 2006. His representative released a statement saying: “Paul was surprised and flattered but it wasn’t really for him.”
John Lennon
John Lennon famously returned his MBE to the Queen in 1969 as a form of protest. The Beatles legend initially accepted an MBE, but in 1969 he famously returned it, protesting Britain’s foreign policy with the unforgettable words: “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
John Cleese, the Monty Python icon, was considered for a CBE in 1996 but dismissed it as “silly”. He also turned down a peerage offered by Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown in 1999, citing the requirement to stay in cold England during winter as a working peer as “too much of a price to pay”.
George Harrison
George Harrison, another member of The Beatles, declined an OBE in 2000, which came after Paul McCartney had been knighted. All the Beatles received MBEs in 1965, but Lennon’s return of his award is well-documented.
It’s believed that Harrison felt slighted because McCartney received his knighthood three years prior. “Whoever it was who decided to offer him the OBE and not the knighthood was extraordinarily insensitive,” said Harrison’s friend Roy Connolly to the Independent. “George would have felt insulted – and with very good reason.”
Ken Loach
The film director said ta-ta to an OBE back in ’77. Known for tackling tough subjects like poverty and homelessness, he revealed his stance to 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
Jon Snow, the distinguished former presenter of Channel 4 News—not to be mistaken with the Game of Thrones character—politely declined an OBE in 2000. He gave a polite ‘no thanks’ to an OBE in 2000 and went full snoop two years later with a doc 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
Danny Boyle, the acclaimed filmmaker, has admitted that he declined an honour for his work on the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, believing firmly that taking individual accolades for a group achievement “was wrong”. “It’s just not me,” he asserted, stressing the importance of collective effort: “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 head of the Formula One Group, who confessed to fraud over undisclosed assets worth a whopping £400m, also turned down an honour in the early 2000s. In a 2019 interview, he revealed that while he was chuffed to have made a positive impact, his main drive in business wasn’t to bag awards, so he didn’t feel he deserved the honour.
LS Lowry
LS Lowry, the celebrated artist, is rumoured to have said no to 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
Rudyard Kipling, the acclaimed writer and poet, said no thanks to a knighthood in 1899 and again in 1903. His wife shared that Kipling felt he could “do his work better without it”. Kipling also turned down the Order of Merit in 1921 and again in 1924. Kipling voiced his own thoughts on the significance of titles and poetry in his poem The Last Rhyme of True Thomas.
Honor Blackman
Before her passing in 2020, the iconic Bond actress was a staunch supporter of Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state in the UK – so it’s no shocker that she declined a CBE in 2002. Blackman didn’t hold back on her opinions either, especially when it came to fellow Bond legend Sir Sean Connery and his tax affairs.
“I don’t think you should accept a title from a country and then pay absolutely no tax towards it,” she expressed in 2012. “I don’t think his principles are very high.”
Benjamin Zephaniah
The poet, who died in December 2023 aged just 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
National treasure Jim turned down an OBE in 2002, feeling that such honours should be reserved for those making a real difference in people’s lives. In an interview with the Telegraph, he said: “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 shared his discomfort with the implications of the honours system, admitting: “I don’t think the British Empire is something that I particularly want to celebrate.”
Albert Finney
The Bourne series star made headlines when he rejected both a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood two decades later, slamming the honours system and describing knighthoods as a sign of illness that “perpetuates snobbery”.
Andrew Davies
The Welsh scriptwriter, known for his work on House of Cards and Pride and Prejudice, is also reported to have turned down an honour, though he’s kept his reasons close to his chest.
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.
John Lydon
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 Her Majesty’s silver jubilee, it comes as little surprise that he rejected the honour.