Perpetuating snobbery? Accepting honors from another country? Queen Elizabeth II may have
commanded respect internationally, but not everyone was so keen to toe the royal line.
According to iNews, Stephen Hawking turned down a knighthood in the late 1990s. He did so
because he opposed the British government's management of scientific institutions,
namely the merger of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research
Council and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils.
Hawking accepted plenty of other British honors earlier in his life,
though. In 1989, he accepted the Order of the Companion of Honour, also known as CH,
which honors those who have made "a contribution to the arts, science,
medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time." He also earned a
Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, also known as a CBE, in 1982.
In 2009, some 10 years after Hawking rejected a knighthood, President Barack Obama awarded him
with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.
Praising Hawking's resolve in living with motor neuron disease, Obama said,
"He has become one of the world's leading scientists. [...] He has
stirred our imagination and shown us the power of the human spirit here on Earth."
Renowned for his turn in "Lawrence of Arabia," Peter O'Toole refused a knighthood in the 1980s,
citing his opposition to Margaret Thatcher, according to Time.
"No! No! No."
O'Toole had always been a staunch Labour supporter. According to obituarist John Lund,
O'Toole attempted to "bully" friends and family into voting for Labour but
reconsidered his methods when his personal driver confessed to voting Conservative,
citing the Labour government's high taxes.
It is doubtful that O'Toole ever paid much mind to the prospect of a knighthood;
he was too busy being nominated for Academy Awards. From 1962 to 2006,
O'Toole was nominated eight times for Best Actor in a Leading Role, losing all of them. In 2003,
the actor received an honorary Oscar after having initially refused it. According to The
Irish Examiner, O'Toole thought the gesture represented a premature retirement. However,
upon reflection, he changed his mind and took to the stage, quipping,
"Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, my foot!"
Writer Aldous Huxley is remembered chiefly for his 1932 novel "Brave New World," which
is among the foremost novels in the dystopian canon. Huxley's book imagines a nefarious world
government that employs advanced technology and psychological manipulation to subdue its
people and create a rigid class system. Given Huxley's distrust of establishment forces,
it is perhaps unsurprising that the author refused a knighthood in the
New Year Honours List of 1959, according to the Cabinet Office.
Huxley spent much of his life in California,
where he lived with his wife Maria and their son Matthew. He wrote numerous books,
essays, and scripts during his time in America, including "The Doors of Perception” and “Heaven
and Hell," which were controversial accounts of LSD and mescaline use. These psychedelic
experiences changed his perspective on life. Huxley remarked in an interview,
"We are multiple amphibians living in many different — even in some senses
incommensurable — universes at the same time,
and [...] our business in life is somehow to make the best of all the worlds we live in."
One wonders what Queen Elizabeth would have made of such a sentiment.
J. G. Ballard is best known as the author of novels such as "Empire of the Sun" and "Crash."
And being a writer, he did not mince words when he was offered a CBE in 2003. Per The Guardian,
Ballard rather poetically, if rudely, described the British monarchy, saying,
"There's all that bowing and scraping and mummery at the palace. […] It's
a huge pantomime where tinsel takes the place of substance."
While Ballard was open to other awards, such as France's Legion d'honneur,
it seems his strong republican views prevented him from accepting any
monarchical awards. Ballard also took aim at other recipients of the honors system, saying,
"I think it's deplorable when leftwing playwrights like David Hare,
who have worn their socialist colors on both sleeves for so many years,
should accept a knighthood. God almighty, this man actually knelt down in front of the Queen."
Actor Albert Finney emerged during the "Angry Young Men" cultural movement of the late 1950s
and early 1960s. Led by writers such as John Wain, Alan Sillitoe, and John Osborne,
the "Angry Young Men" period, which is also referred to as kitchen sink realism,
told stories of working or middle-class characters with a cynical view of society and the British
class system. Finney made his mark on this oeuvre with the 1960 film "Saturday Night,
Sunday Morning," in which he played Arthur, a young machinist with an appetite for bad behavior.
Finney's winning performance led to a Hollywood career of some 60 years,
with roles in "Tom Jones," "Murder on the Orient Express," and "Erin Brockovich."
Fame and wealth did not change the working class lad from Salford,
though. When Finney was offered a knighthood in 2000, he rejected it outright and criticized
the honors system as a means of "perpetuating snobbery," according to The New York Times.
Playwright Alan Bennett has described himself, per the BBC,
as Britain's "last monarchist," explaining,
"I simply can't imagine if we had anything in its place, it would be anything but worse."
He also spoke fondly of then-Prince Charles, praising his conscientious work ethic, saying,
"He really works his ass off. [...] He's much more conscientious and attentive to
people than he is ever given credit for and so, as I say, I have a great deal of time for him."
However, despite his reverence, Bennett rejected a
knighthood in 1996. Addressing a Hay Festival audience, he said,
"It would be like wearing a suit every day of your life."
Still, despite the snub, Bennett has a longstanding interest and respect for the royal
family. His 2007 novella "The Uncommon Reader" imagines Queen Elizabeth II as an avid bookworm,
lightly mocking her majesty with what The Guardian described as "beautifully modulated
jokes." As with King Charles III, Bennett had no ill will towards the late queen, saying,
"She is a very good person to write about, in the sense that you know exactly how she speaks."
"I assume the best work is yet to come."
British artist David Hockney refused a knighthood in 1990,
with his reasoning being that he "does not care for fuss" and that he valued friends over prizes,
according to the BBC. Hockney told the Telegraph and Argus,
"I do not think life is about prizes. I put them all in the bottom drawer and leave them
there. I don't value prizes of any sort. I value my friends. Prizes of any sort are a bit suspect."
Despite this view on accolades, Hockney nonetheless joined the Order of Merit as
part of the Queen's New Year Honours list in 2012.
Like the playwright Alan Bennett, Hockney's refusal did not have to do with any kind of
strong republican sentiment. His creativity is also inspired by the queen, who is described
to BBC Radio 4 as a "terrific subject" for a potential painting. That never happened,
for many reasons, including that Hockney only paints those he knows. The queen might
not have been happy with the result anyway, as he also shared he is not a "flatterer."
The artist Francis Bacon was not one for pomp and circumstance.
He told the owner of Colony Room, his favorite Soho watering hole,
"When I'm dead, put me in a plastic bag and throw me in the gutter."
Anyone who has reflected on his strange and sometimes disturbing paintings can
see this attitude reflected back at them. Bacon reportedly cared little for most things in life,
including his reputation. The gifted artist dismissed talk of his legacy as "rubbish" and
never got on with the art establishment. He did not bother with formal training, either.
Still, despite his many snubs, the queen attempted to reward Bacon with a CBE in
1960, according to the Cabinet Office. Naturally, he declined.
Incidentally, Bacon is said to have booed Princess Margaret,
the notorious hedonist, when she inflicted her singing voice on him at a party.
Playwright Harold Pinter accepted a CBE in 1966 but later refused a knighthood from Prime
Minister John Major in the 1990s. Pinter described knighthoods as "squalid" and thought being called
"sir" was "silly," according to The Guardian. Even later, in 2002, Pinter accepted a Companions
of Honour, also known as a CH, a decision that came after some deliberation. Pinter explained,
"However critical I might or might not be about this country, nevertheless,
a) I like cricket, and b) I do live in this country."
He also viewed the CH as an honor from the
U.K. more generally rather than one bestowed by the monarchy.
Like other famous writers, Pinter accepted the Légion d'honneur,
which the French Republic awarded him in 2007, about a year before his death on December 24,
2008. It seems that the Légion d'honneur is simply cooler than anything the British monarchy can
muster. It is considered a premier award from a country associated with highbrow culture,
while the British honors system is something of an establishment club.
Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone refused a knighthood in the early 2000s,
and he was refreshingly honest about why he did so. He spoke
about his refusal in an interview with sports journalist Graham Bensinger.
"Anything I did, I did for myself, not for England. If England benefitted, good.
I didn't go out particularly to do that."
The businessman has also said that he did not think many people who are knighted now "really
deserve it." This included Formula One star Lewis Hamilton, who was knighted by then-Prince Charles
at Windsor Castle in December 2021, just days after losing to Max Verstappen. It was Hamilton's
second honor, having received an MBE in 2008 after winning his first Formula One championship.
When asked about the seven-time champion's knighthood, Ecclestone said,
"Only people who have really done something for the country should be knighted. They all make a
lot of money and donate some to charity, but they haven't done anything specific for the country."