Order of the Companions of Honour

The Order of the Companions of Honour is a British award given to citizens of the Commonwealth. It was founded by King George V in 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion.

Order of the Companions of Honour
Riband and badge of the "Companions of Honour"
Awarded by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms
Type	Order
Motto	IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR
Awarded for	Nationally important service
Status	Currently awarded
Sovereign	Charles III
Grades (w/ post-nominals)	Companion (CH)
Established	1917
Ribbon bar of the order

Lord Tweedsmuir as Governor General of Canada wearing the Companion of Honour badge around his neck

The order is limited to 65 Companions of Honour. At first 45 members could be from the United Kingdom, 7 from Australia, 2 from New Zealand and 11 from other Commonwealth countries. Foreigners from outside the realm may be added as "honorary members". Membership of the order gives no title, or precedence, but recipients can put the post-nominal letters "CH" after their names.

The insignia of the Order consists of an oval medallion with an oak tree, a shield with the royal arms hanging from one branch, and on the left a mounted knight in armour. The badge's clear blue border bears the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR. Men wear the badge on a ribbon (red with golden border threads) around their necks, and women on a bow at the left shoulder.

Current members

• Sovereign: Charles III
• Members:
  1. The Lord Tebbit CH PC (1987)
  2. The Lord Baker of Dorking CH PC (1992)
  3. The Lord King of Bridgwater CH PC (1992)
  4. Dame Janet Baker CH DBE (1993)
  5. The Lord Owen CH PC (1994)
  6. The Lord Hurd of Westwell CH CBE PC (1995)
  7. Sir David Attenborough OM CH CVO CBE FRS FZS FSA (1996)
  8. The Lord Heseltine CH PC (1997)
  9. David Hockney OM CH RA (1997)
  10. Sir John Major KG CH PC (1998)
  11. The Lord Patten of Barnes KG CH PC (1998)
  12. Bridget Riley CH CBE (1998)
  13. John de Chastelain CH OC CMM CD (1999)
  14. The Lord Hannay of Chiswick GCMG CH (2003)
  15. Dan McKenzie CH FRS (2003)
  16. Dame Judi Dench CH DBE FRSA (2005)
  17. Sir Ian McKellen CH CBE (2008)
  18. The Lord Howard of Lympne CH PC KC (2011)
  19. The Lord Young of Cookham CH PC (2012)
  20. Peter Higgs CH FRS FRSE (2012)
  21. The Lord Coe CH KBE (2012)
  22. The Lord Strathclyde CH PC (2013)
  23. The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem CH CBE PC KC (2013)
  24. Sir Nicholas Serota CH (2013)
  25. The Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve CH CBE FRS (2013)
  26. Dame Maggie Smith CH DBE (2014)
  27. The Lord Clarke of Nottingham CH PC KC (2014)
  28. Lady Mary Peters LG CH DBE (2015)
  29. The Lord Woolf CH PC (2015)
  30. Sir Roy Strong CH FRSL (2016)
  31. The Lord Smith of Kelvin KT CH (2016)
  32. The Baroness Amos LG CH PC (2016)
  33. George Osborne CH PC (2016)
  34. Sir Richard Eyre CH CBE (2017)
  35. Dame Evelyn Glennie CH DBE (2017)
  36. Sir Alec Jeffreys CH FRS (2017)
  37. Sir Mark Elder CH CBE (2017)
  38. Sir Paul McCartney CH MBE (2017)
  39. J. K. Rowling CH OBE FRSL (2017)
  40. Dame Stephanie Shirley CH DBE (2017)
  41. Delia Smith CH CBE (2017)
  42. The Lord Stern of Brentford CH FRS FBA (2017)
  43. The Lord Bragg CH FRS FBA FRSL (2018)
  44. Lady Antonia Fraser CH DBE FRSL (2018)
  45. Margaret MacMillan OM CC CH FBA FRSL (2018)
  46. Richard Henderson CH FRS (2018)
  47. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ONZ CH DBE AC (2018)
  48. Margaret Atwood CC CH FRSL (2019)
  49. The Lord McLoughlin CH PC (2019)
  50. Sir Elton John CH CBE (2019)
  51. Sir Keith Thomas CH (2019)
  52. Sir Paul Smith CH CBE RDI (2020)
  53. Sir David Chipperfield CH CBE RDI RA (2021)
  54. Sir Paul Nurse OM CH FRS (2022)
  55. The Lord Field of Birkenhead CH PC (2022)
  56. Sir Quentin Blake CH CBE FRSL RDI (2022)
  57. Sir Salman Rushdie CH FRSL (2022)
  58. Dame Marina Warner CH DBE FBA FRSL (2022)
  59. Sir Michael Marmot CH FBA (2023)
  60. Sir John Bell GBE CH FRS (2023)
  61. Ian McEwan CH CBE FRSL (2023)
  62. Dame Anna Wintour CH DBE (2023)
  63. Dame Shirley Bassey CH DBE (2024)
  64. The Princess of Wales GCVO CH (2024)
  65. Gordon Brown CH (2024)

• Honorary Members:
  1. Amartya Sen CH FBA (2000)

Other websites

• - Order of the Companions of Honour page

References