However, it didn’t matter because his letter requesting to stop the nomination process wasn’t received until after it was decided his actions weren’t quite worthy. In contrast, we could find only one instance of a Medal of Honor recipient requesting not to be considered for it- John J. Although, what those reasons are aren’t typically publicly revealed, with exceptions like John Cleese who stated he felt he’d already received a much greater honor- having a lemur, Avahi cleesei, named after him. Perhaps because there is little incentive to accept other than the pure honor of it, a surprising number of people (reportedly about 2% in recent decades, including John Cleese and David Bowie) have refused knighthoods for various reasons. Although, we do know of at least one case where an individual knighted, British author Sir Terry Pratchett, went ahead and had such a sword made to commemorate his knighthood and then lamented the laws of the land didn’t allow him to carry it around in his day to day life, despite him officially BEING a knight. Thus, disappointingly, being knighted today by the Queen does not come with a fiefdom and peasants to work the land, nor any such tangible award- not even a badass custom forged sword or armor. For example, as noted by the Royal Collection Trust, the title in ancient times didn’t confer any monetary benefit upon a person since anyone granted the title of Knight would, to quote them, “Be expected to have the financial ability to support the honour of knighthood, so that he could provide himself with arms, armour, horses and the required number of armed followers to render military service to his Sovereign for a minimum period each year.”
This lack of official perks is in keeping with historical precedent, with the title of Knight throughout history being largely ceremonial in nature, especially in the United Kingdom. But, on the whole, you officially get basically nothing. That said, there are more intangible perks, such as a slightly higher profile, more impressive looking resume, potential invites to parties one would otherwise not have been, quicker seating at some exclusive restaurants, etc.
But what do you actually get out of either of these things (or both, as it’s possible to both be knighted and receive a Medal of Honor)? And, if you only received one, which would be more beneficial to you post honor?Īs we’ve covered before in great detail, it turns out getting knighted entitles you to just about nothing, other than getting to attend a special ceremony where you’re knighted and then afterwards you can adopt a title, such as “Sir”. Medal of Honor, first introduced in 1861, much like in the earliest days of knighthood, this is earned via some extremely heroic act done in aid of the U.S.
In modern times of course, in places like the UK, knighthoods are typically granted for all manner of services to a nation, regardless of whether the person has any military training whatsoever. Later, the honor became somewhat more exclusive, generally limited to nobility or those who were the children of knights, but still typically requiring extensive military training. In the early going, knighthood was an honor earned by those who had distinguished themselves in battle in some significant way or otherwise had made themselves into an absolutely exceptional soldier through many years of training.
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