No Sir: 5 People Who Have Given Up their Knighthood

A knighthood used to be one of the biggest honors bestowed on someone in the British realm. But, as opinions on the royal family and what the British Empire represents have changed, several people have given up their knighthood or flat-out rejected them.

As Benjamin Zephaniah said when offered an OBE, “I have been fighting against the legacy of empire all my life… Anybody who has thought of giving me this OBE can’t have read my work.” Many people share similar opinions of what they represent, and choose to turn down or turn in their knighthood.

John Lennon

One of the most famous people to return his MBE knighthood is none other than John Lennon. He sent it back to her majesty, the queen, in 1969, along with a note explaining his actions.

“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.”

No hard feelings.

David Bowie

Twice, the royals have tried to give David Bowie some recognition for his work under the order of the British Empire. But, he wasn’t having any of it. The idea of royalty or an empire bestowing gratitude on him didn’t sit well with the musician. So, twice, Bowie turned down a knighthood.

“I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that,” he said to the BBC at the time. “I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”

John Cleese

Legendary Monty Python comedian and national treasure has turned down many awards as well as a knighthood. He simply has no interest in accepting awards from people he doesn’t care for. And, as he put it when turning down a peerage, enduring a British winter is too high a price to pay to sit in the House of Lords.

George the Poet

In 2019, George the Poet turned down a knighthood MBE. Born in London, but of Ugandan heritage, he said that the rape of Africa by the British Empire would never allow him to accept anything representing the evil they committed.

“Your forefathers grabbed my motherland, pinned her down, and took turns. They did that every day for a couple of hundred years and then left her to treat her own burns. Now all of her children are born with a set of unique concerns and gaps in the information that we really do need to learn, and none of us know why we got absorbed by a ‘higher entity’, why I have to fight for my identity,” he said on his podcast.

Nigella Lawson

One of the most beautiful TV chefs to ever grace the screens of the world also turned down a knighthood. It was revealed she was offered one for her contributions to Britain’s, quite frankly, terrible food reputation. However, she didn’t believe she deserved one. “I’m not saving lives and I’m not doing anything other than something I absolutely love,” she said.

Some of her baking is lifesaving. She’s just humble.