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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Norman Baker

King Charles looked for heroes to honour – and picked William, Kate and Camilla. Laugh? Cry? You choose

Norman Baker Britain
members of the royal family on the balcony at Buckingham palace
‘Kate (centre) is now a Companion of Honour, an award reserved for those who have excelled in the world of the arts, medicines, or science.’ Photograph: FD/Francis Dias/NEWSPIX INTERNATIONAL

I wonder if I should award myself an honour, something grand-sounding. How about Most Excellent Keeper of the Belfry? It has a nice ring about it, even if I have done nothing to deserve it. That latter consideration is of course no bar to our fossilised royal family who have this week breezily been giving themselves ludicrous sounding honours as if this were 1724, not 2024.

Camilla is now, as of yesterday, the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire. What empire, you might ask? Rockall was Ronnie Barker’s pithy response, and that was about 40 years ago.

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