Let’s keep the Empire in our Honours – they don’t need modernising
Once again the idea that there is something disgraceful in the existence of a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is in the air. Robert Hardman’s updated biography of King Charles suggests that the new government might address this issue, and that the late Queen was not averse to change. There was even talk of renaming it ‘the Order of Britain and Elizabeth’ – a contrived way of retaining its initials. But the idea that it might become the ‘Order of British Excellence’ has found particular favour.
Honorands sometimes turn down the offer of a CBE, OBE or MBE (Commander, Officer, Member). Ardent republicans may refuse an honour. When offered an OBE, the poet Benjamin Zephaniah took exception to the idea that he, with his Caribbean background, might celebrate the British Empire.
There have been mutterings about slavery and Empire. But the Order of the British Empire has nothing to do with slavery. How could it, when this Order of Chivalry was only founded in 1917, by King George V, to reward non-combatants who helped the war effort? Then, recognising the need to reward a wider public, including those active in the arts, sciences, charity and public service, the king expanded it more widely.
In effect, he was attempting to democratise the honours system. Often regarded as a boring king, mainly interested in his stamp collection, King George was keen to promote the cultural life of this country. To this day, the decoration worn by members of each rank carries an image of King George and Queen Mary and the legend FOR GOD AND THE EMPIRE.
That would change if “Empire” became “Excellence” and, presumably, God went into exile. In 2004 a Commons committee recommended the abolition of almost every honour. All it wanted to preserve was Companions of Honour instead of knights and dames, and then Companions, Officers and Members of the Order of British Excellence. No more Order of the Bath; no more St Michael and St George; all the resonance of the titles of the Orders of Chivalry would vanish, all the sense of continuity with a remarkable past reaching back to the Black Prince. Ceremony was seen as flummery. The past was anachronism.
The 2004 report was critical of the use of the term “Commander”, wishing to replace it with the anodyne term “Companion”. “Commander” was regarded as too militaristic. But it is used in many countries. I am both a CBE and a Commendatore of an Italian order that the Italian Republic confers on non-Italians. A late colleague was a Comendador of a Spanish order. Rather than flinching at “militarism”, we can note with satisfaction that these are no longer naval or military titles but honourable titles of rank open to the wider public.
That wider public included women from the moment the Order was founded. In recent years the number of Dames has increased significantly, in recognition of the achievements of women in this country. These facts alone suggest the Order of the British Empire has played a valuable role in a vital aspect of national life. The “British Empire” was never a constitutional entity, and the “Empire” it now celebrates is the entire community of citizens of the United Kingdom.
David Abulafia CBE is a fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge