Sir Keir Starmer: First knight of the realm to serve as PM for 61 years
Sir Keir Starmer’s victory in the General Election marks the first time in more than 60 years that a knight of the realm has taken up the office of prime minister.
Sir Alec Douglas-Home was the last premier who entered office with a knighthood in 1963, with all others since having received the honour after leaving office.
The Labour leader was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2014 New Year Honours for “services to law and criminal justice”.
Knighthoods awarded via the Order of the Bath are usually reserved for senior military officials and civil servants, and the order derives its name from an elaborate medieval initiation ceremony.
Sir Keir was appointed to the knightly order for his work as head of the Crown Prosecution Service and Director of Public Prosecutions – one of the most senior positions in the legal system of England and Wales – between 2008 and 2013.
The Labour leader has talked about his time in the role during the election campaign as he appealed to voters on law and order issues.
Sir Keir pointed to prosecuting terrorists and organised crime gangs among his achievements in the role.
Throughout the reign of Elizabeth II, all of her other prime ministers from Sir Winston Churchill up until Sir Tony Blair were bestowed with knighthoods in the Order of the Garter.
The only exception was Conservative Harold Macmillan, who declined the offer.
The most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, the Order of the Garter is one of a select series of honours where the monarch alone has a say over its membership.
Other honours are awarded on the recommendation of ministers.
Sir Alec is famous among modern prime ministers for having renounced his hereditary peerage as Earl of Home to seek election as an MP after he was appointed prime minister.
He was a knight in the Order of the Thistle, a chivalric order associated with Scotland, whose membership is decided by the monarch, in the same arrangement as the Order of the Garter.
Known as Sir Alec after being elected to the Commons, he returned to the House of Lords in retirement as a life peer, and was made Baron Home of the Hirsel, the name of his family’s ancestral home in Scotland.
Sir Tony is the most recent prime minister to have been knighted, with his membership of the Order of the Garter announced as part of the 2022 New Year Honours list.
The former Labour prime minister is reported to have repeatedly spurned the idea of accepting a knighthood after leaving office.
Convention dictates that prime ministers receive a knighthood via the Order of the Garter in the order in which they served.
This would presumably make Gordon Brown next in line to receive such an honour but membership of the Order of the Garter is limited to only 24 living “companion” members, who receive the title “knight companion” or “lady companion”.
