In the country’s annual New Year Honors List, which celebrated the achievements of hundreds of people from James Bond star Daniel Craig to teenage tennis champion Emma Raducanu, scientists and medical experts who have led Britain’s response to the pandemic were knighted on Friday.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was also given a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Organization of the Garter, the oldest and most prestigious British chivalry order.
Officials claimed about one-fifth of the awards were for coronavirus-related work in another year dominated by the pandemic. England’s chief and deputy medical officers, Chris Whitty and Jonathan Van-Tam, were knighted. Jenny Harries, the head of the United Kingdom’s Health Security Agency, and June Raine, the top executive of the United Kingdom’s drugs regulatory organization, were both given the title of dame.
This year’s Honors List honored around 1,200 persons in the United Kingdom, including scientists, actresses, politicians, Olympic athletes, and people who raised donations for charities.
Craig was named a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, the same title given to the fictitious Bond, for his contributions to film and theater. Craig made his final appearance as 007 in the blockbuster “No Time to Die.”
Diplomats are frequently given the title, and Bond was shown as having it in the film franchise and Ian Fleming’s writings.
In other news, legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave will be made a dame, while former Spice Girl Melanie Brown, or Mel B, was honored for her work with the domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid.
Raducanu, a 19-year-old U.S. Open champion, is awarded an MBE, or Member of the Order of the British Empire, in sport.
“This year has been full of incredible shocks for me,” Raducanu added, “so to close 2021 with this position is quite remarkable.”
Olympic champion cyclists Jason Kenny and his wife Laura, diver Tom Daley, and swimmer Adam Peaty were among the other sportsmen honored.
Since the Middle Ages, British monarchs have bestowed accolades as part of chivalry orders. Nominations are now submitted to the Cabinet Office of the government, where they are examined by a committee before being forwarded to the prime minister and the queen for confirmation.
Blair’s knighthood, which he received after serving as Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, was not included in the main list since it was determined by the queen without consulting the government.
Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Baroness Valerie Amos, a Labour member of the House of Lords, who will become the order’s first black member, were also appointed by the queen to the Order of the Garter.