OBE

[pengolodh_sc]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter, "Shaun Hately" wrote:
> On 14 May 2003 at 3:37, dradamsapple wrote:
> > And, can someone explain what the initials O.B.E. stand for?
> 
> Order of the British Empire - an honour bestowed by the Queen on
> the advice of the British government - a fairly low level honour as
> such things go, but any such honour is a serious thing.

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter, "Coble, Katherine" wrote:
> 	Mycropht:
> 
> 	Order of the British Empire.
> 
> 
> 	It's a form of knighthood, or a rank below knighthood or
> something.  I think the Queen gives them out so she can meet
> famous people.

To clarify - in the case of the honour that has been awarded to Mrs 
Rowling, the postnominal letters do not stand for "Order of the 
British Empire".  The full name of the order is "The Most Excellent 
Order of the British Empire", and it is one of six British orders of 
honour in existence today.  It was formed in 1917 to reward service 
to the British Empire in the United Kingdom and abroad. Originally it 
had only a civil division, but a military division was added in 1918 
to acknowledge distinguished military service of a non-combative 
nature.  There are five classes of award (and also an associated 
medal, the British Empire Medal (BEM), which ranks considerably below 
the other classes).  The five ranks, with postnominal letters, from 
lowest to highest, are listed below:

MBE - Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
OBE - Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
CBE - Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire
KBE/DBE - Knight (or Dame) Commander of the Most Excellent Order of 
the British Empire
GBE - Knight (or Dame) Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the 
British Empire

If one is made a member of either KBE/DBE rank or GBE rank one is 
entitled to use the prefix "Sir" if male, "Dame" if female.  The wife 
of a knight will normally be allowed the style "Lady".  There is a 
limit to hwo many members an order can have at any given time, 
particularly at the higher levels.  If the Crown is in the position 
where a person clearly deserves to be made a knight of an order, but 
no suitable order has any room, that person can be made a Knight 
Bachelor, which does not result in membership in any Order of Honour, 
but does give the person the title and accolade of being a knight.  
He can later be moved to one of the Orders of Honour.

There is an order of precedence between the various orders of 
chivalry, too:
The Most Noble Order of the Garter (sovereign Order of Honour, 1 
class)
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle (sovereign Order 
of Honour, 1 class)
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (3 classes)
The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (3 classes)
The Royal victorian Order (5 classes)
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (5 classes)

Of these, the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, and the 
Royal Victorian Order are, as far as I know, conferred by The 
Sovereign in exercise of the Royal Prerogative, meaning that the 
government does not get to influence the awards of membership in 
those Orders of Honour.

Being made an OBE is not that small an honour - as far as I can 
determine from the order of precedence (as based on that issued by 
the Governor-General for Australia April 4 2002, not counting the 
purely Australian honours - pdf-document:  
http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/pdf/OrderOfWearing.pdf ) it is the 23rd 
highest ranking honour that is awarded within the United Kingdom, 
aside from life peerages.

The reason for the existence of the various Orders of Honour, as well 
as the other British Honours, is that the British government has a 
requirement for various ways of honouring citizens that have made 
various services to the nation.  A large portion of those awarded 
these Honours are not famous people, but everyday people, Honoured by 
the government for long and dedicated service in some form or other.

Best regards
Christian Stubø