British Culture Alphabet: O

4 years ago

 Hi all!I'm writing about British culture.I thought a cool way to introduce some British culture into the Verbling community would be to work through the alphabet and talk about a topic for each letter. So, for O we are focusing on..... 

An OBE or an “Officer of the Order of the British Empire” is an award that is handed out to British nationals and members of the 15 Commonwealth countries The award can be given for a personal achievement, dedication to the country or dedication to a particular sector (for example a Children’s Charity or the Police). 

There are other awards which are handed out too, a CBE and an MBE, which stand for Commander and Member, respectively. 

There are, in fact, five awards which come under the title of The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire which is an order of Chivalry. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, only members of the aristocracy and high-ranking military figures could be appointed to an Order of chivalry. This changed during the reign of King George V in 1917 to include people form a wider variety of backgrounds. The awards include the following:

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

The classes above have been arranged in order of precedence, meaning that the first GBE is the most prestigious and the MBE the least.  People are recommended by others (peers, colleagues, friends etc) to receive an award. This nomination is then considered by a committee. If the nomination is approved then the person will be notified. People do not have to accept the award, in fact, David Bowie rejected both a CBE and a Knighthood. If a person chooses to accept the award then they will attend a ceremony where the award will be handed out by a Member of the Royal Family. 

You can find out more here: https://www.royal.uk/queen-and-honoursThis web page also details other awards such as The Order of the Garter and the Order of the Thistle which are rare and are different as these appointments are personal gifts of the Queen.