List of honorary British Knights - Definition and Overview

This is an incomplete list of people who have been created Honorary Knights (or Dames) by the British crown.

In recent years, the following numbers of Honorary Knights and Dames have been created (other than RVOs, which are the Queen's personal prerogative)

Entertainment and Arts

• Alfred Brendel - KBE (1989)
• Plácido Domingo - KBE (2002)
• Antal Doráti - KBE (1983)
• Maurice Druon - KBE
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - KBE (1949)
• Bob Geldof - KBE (1986)
• Bernard Haitink - KBE (1977)
• Bob Hope - KBE (1998)
• Yehudi Menuhin - KBE (1965; later became a British subject)
• Spike Milligan - KBE (2001)
• Arnaldo Momigliano - KBE (1974)
• Anne Murray - DBE
• Iris Origo - DBE (1977)
• Eugene Ormandy - KBE (1976)
• Sidney Poitier - KBE
• Mario Praz - KBE (1962)
• Andre Previn - KBE
• Arthur Rubinstein - KBE (1977)
• Georg Solti - KBE (1971; later became a British subject)
• Steven Spielberg - KBE (2001)

Politics and Government

• Emeka Anyaoku - (2000)
• George H. W. Bush - GCB
• Rudy Giuliani - KBE (February 13, 2002)
• Alan Greenspan - KBE (2002)
• Hamid Karzai - GCMG (2003)
• Ronald Reagan - GCB
• Donald Tsang - KBE
• Caspar Weinberger - GBE
• Chung Sze Yuen - GBE
• Zulfikar Pasha - KBE (1920)

Military

• Wesley Clark - KBE (2000)
• Tommy Franks
• Colin Powell - KCB (1993)
• Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. - KCB (1993)
• Brent Scowcroft - KBE (1993)
• Leighton W. Smith, Jr. - KBE (1997)

Business

• Niall FitzGerald - KBE (2002)
• Bill Gates - KBE (2004)
• Lou Gerstner
• Paul Getty - KBE (1987; later became a British subject)
• Cecil H. Green

Religious

• Billy Graham - KBE (2001)

Science

• Ara Darzi
• Guglielmo Marconi - GCVO (1914)
• Abdus Salam
• James Watson

Humanitarian

• Simon Wiesenthal

Sports

• Pelé - KBE (1998)