Order Of The Companions Of Honour

It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire.

Order of the Companions of Honour
Badge and ribbon of the order
Awarded by Charles III
Type	Order
Established	4 June 1917
Motto	In Action Faithful and in Honour Clear
Eligibility	All living citizens of the Commonwealth realms
Criteria	Nationally important service
Status	Currently constituted
Founder	George V
Sovereign	Charles III
Grades	Member (CH)
Ribbon bar of the order

The order was originally intended to be conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seemed to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour dissociated from either the acceptance of title or the classification of merit. It is now described as being "awarded for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The first recipients of the order were all decorated for "services in connection with the war" and were listed in The London Gazette.

 

The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who is the Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into a single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or precedence, those inducted into the order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH.

Appointments to the order are generally made on the advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two each for New Zealand and South Africa, and nine for India, Burma, and the other British colonies. The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven.

Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped the allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, a New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author Margaret Atwood was given the award in 2019.

The Lord Coe CH represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation.

The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by a royal crown (but, until recently, surmounted by an imperial crown), and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree, a shield with the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on the left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR, Alexander Pope's description (in iambic pentameter) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs, later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey. Men wear the badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at the left shoulder.

• Sovereign: King Charles III

Royal companions

Member number	Name	Post-nominals	Occupation	Date of appointment	Age
1 (384)	The Princess of Wales	GCVO, CH	Royal family	23 April 2024	42

Members

Member number	Name	Post-nominals	Current or former occupation	Date of appointment	Age
1 (267)	The Lord Tebbit	CH, PC	Politician	31 July 1987	93
2 (270)	The Lord Baker of Dorking	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	89
3 (278)	The Lord King of Bridgwater	CH, PC	Politician	13 April 1992	90
4 (282)	Dame Janet Baker	CH, DBE	Opera singer	31 December 1993	90
5 (287)	The Lord Owen	CH, PC	Politician	11 June 1994	85
6 (289)	Sir David Attenborough	OM, GCMG, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FSA, FRSA, FLS, FZS, FRSGS, FRSB	Broadcaster; naturalist	30 December 1995	97
7 (291)	The Lord Hurd of Westwell	CH, CBE, PC	Politician	30 December 1995	94
8 (294)	David Hockney	OM, CH	Artist	14 June 1997	86
9 (296)	The Lord Heseltine	CH, PC	Politician	2 August 1997	91
10 (297)	The Lord Patten of Barnes	KG, CH, PC	Politician; former Governor of Hong Kong	31 December 1997	79
11 (299)	Sir John Major	KG, CH, PC	Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom	31 December 1998	81
12 (300)	Bridget Riley	CH, CBE	Artist	31 December 1998	93
13 (305)	John de Chastelain	CC, CMM, CH, CD	Canadian Army officer; diplomat	31 December 1998	86
14 (317)	Dan McKenzie	CH, FRS	Geophysicist	14 June 2003	82
15 (318)	The Lord Hannay of Chiswick	GCMG, CH	Diplomat	14 June 2003	78
16 (320)	Dame Judi Dench	CH, DBE	Actress	11 June 2005	89
17 (321)	Sir Ian McKellen	CH, CBE	Actor	31 December 2007	84
18 (323)	The Lord Howard of Lympne	CH, PC, KC	Politician	11 June 2011	82
19 (324)	The Lord Young of Cookham	CH, PC	Politician	20 September 2012	82
20 (325)	The Lord Coe	CH, KBE, Hon FRIBA	Politician; athlete; organiser of 2012 Olympics	29 December 2012	67
21 (327)	The Lord Strathclyde	CH, PC	Politician	7 January 2013	64
22 (328)	The Lord Campbell of Pittenweem	CH, CBE, PC, KC	Politician	15 June 2013	82
23 (329)	Sir Nicholas Serota	CH	Curator	15 June 2013	77
24 (331)	The Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve	CH, CBE, FBA, FRS, FMedSci	Philosopher	31 December 2013	82
25 (332)	Dame Maggie Smith	CH, DBE	Actress	14 June 2014	89
26 (333)	The Lord Clarke of Nottingham	CH, PC, KC	Politician	22 July 2014	83
27 (336)	Lady Mary Peters	LG, CH, DBE, DStJ	Athlete	1 January 2015	84
28 (339)	The Lord Woolf	CH, PC, FBA, FMedSci	Judge	12 June 2015	90
29 (341)	Sir Roy Strong	CH, FRSL	Art historian; museum director	1 January 2016	88
30 (343)	The Lord Smith of Kelvin	KT, CH	Businessman	11 June 2016	79
31 (344)	The Baroness Amos	LG, CH, PC	Politician; diplomat	11 June 2016	70
32 (345)	George Osborne	CH, PC	Politician; former Chancellor of the Exchequer	4 August 2016	52
33 (347)	Sir Richard Eyre	CH, CBE	Director	31 December 2016	81
33 (348)	Dame Evelyn Glennie	CH, DBE	Musician	31 December 2016	58
35 (349)	Sir Alec Jeffreys	CH, FRS	Geneticist	31 December 2016	74
36 (353)	Sir Mark Elder	CH, CBE	Conductor	17 June 2017	76
37 (355)	Sir Paul McCartney	CH, MBE	Musician	17 June 2017	81
38 (356)	J. K. Rowling	CH, OBE	Author	17 June 2017	58
39 (357)	Dame Stephanie Shirley	CH, DBE, FREng	Entrepreneur; philanthropist	17 June 2017	90
40 (358)	Delia Smith	CH, CBE	Cook; author	17 June 2017	82
41 (359)	The Lord Stern of Brentford	CH, FRS, FBA	Economist	17 June 2017	78
42 (361)	The Lord Bragg	CH, FRS, FBA, FRSL	Broadcaster	30 December 2017	84
43 (362)	Lady Antonia Fraser	CH, DBE, FRSL	Author	30 December 2017	91
44 (363)	Margaret MacMillan	OM, CC, CH	Historian	30 December 2017	80
45 (364)	Richard Henderson	CH, FRS, FMedSci	Biologist	9 June 2018	78
46 (365)	Dame Kiri Te Kanawa	ONZ, CH, DBE, AC	Opera singer	9 June 2018	80
47 (366)	Margaret Atwood	CC, OOnt, CH, FRSC, FRSL	Author	29 December 2018	84
48 (367)	The Lord McLoughlin	CH, PC	Politician	10 September 2019	66
49 (368)	Sir Elton John	CH, CBE	Musician	28 December 2019	77
50 (369)	Sir Keith Thomas	CH, FBA, FLSW, FRHistS	Historian	28 December 2019	91
51 (370)	Sir Paul Smith	CH, CBE, RDI	Fashion designer	10 October 2020	77
52 (371)	Sir David Chipperfield	CH, CBE, RA, RDI, RIBA	Architect	31 December 2020	70
53 (372)	Sir Paul Nurse	OM, CH, FRS, FMedSci, HonFREng, HonFBA, MAE	Geneticist	31 December 2021	75
54 (374)	Sir Quentin Blake	CH, CBE, FCSD, FRSL, RDI	Illustrator	1 June 2022	91
55 (375)	Sir Salman Rushdie	CH, FRSL	Writer	1 June 2022	76
56 (376)	Dame Marina Warner	CH, DBE, FRSL, FBA	Writer	1 June 2022	77
57 (377)	Sir Michael Marmot	CH, FRCP, FFPM, FMedSci, FBA	Academic	31 December 2022	79
58 (379)	Sir Bill Cash	CH	Politician	9 June 2023	83
59 (380)	Sir John Bell	GBE, CH, FMedSci, FREng	Physician	16 June 2023	71
60 (381)	Ian McEwan	CH, CBE, FRSA, FRSL	Writer	16 June 2023	75
61 (382)	Dame Anna Wintour	CH, DBE	Media executive	16 June 2023	74
62 (383)	Dame Shirley Bassey	CH, DBE	Singer	29 December 2023	87
63 (-)	Vacant following the death of The Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, on 13 May 2023
64 (-)	Vacant following the death of Peter Higgs, on 8 April 2024
65 (-)	Vacant following the death of The Lord Field of Birkenhead, on 23 April 2024

Honorary members

Member number	Name	Post-nominals	Occupation	Date of appointment	Age
1 (261)	Amartya Sen	CH, FBA	Economist	11 May 2000	90

• List of members of the Order of the Companions of Honour
• List of honorary British knights and dames
• List of people who have declined a British honour