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Bill Gates to Receive Honorary UK Knighthood
jolyon writes "Yahoo is reporting that Bill Gates will receive his honorary UK knighthood on Wednesday. He doesn't get to call himself 'Sir' though. He becomes a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire."
I swear he received this like a year or two ago.
AHA!
and I was not wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3428673.stm
You can't buy such an honor because it's impossible to attain (at least for Bill). I'm not sure if naturalized citizens of GB can be called "Sir", but you can't be knighted at all if you're an American (or any other nationality) like Bill. As the article stated, you can be given an honorary title, but it's not the same thing at all. It pretty much just means that you've been honored by the crown.
Um, no, because it's a knighthood not a peerage.
You don't need money, you need to be a British Citizen, or Subject. Bill can't call himself Sir because he's an American Citizen. According to the Declaration of Independence, in America all men are created equal so nobody can have titles.
If Bill wanted to become Sir Bill he'd have to give up his US Citizenship and become a British Citizen.
This the same reason why you never see Anthony Hopkins credited as "Sir Anthony" in US films.
An explaination of who gets to call themselves sir.. For those not quite in the know of how the Brittish Knighting system works.
Quoting Wikipedia: "Citizens of other countries, however, may be admitted as "honorary members". They do not count towards the numerical limits aforementioned, nor are they addressed as "Sir". (They may be made full members if they subsequently become British citizens.) Notable foreign members of the Order have included Pelé, Bob Geldof, Bill Gates, Rudy Giuliani, Alan Greenspan, Steven Spielberg, Tommy Franks and Wesley Clark (all Knights Commander)."
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
A US citizen cannot accept a foreign title without the express permission of Congress.
US Constitution - Article I - Section 9 - Clause 8
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
No. He's a knight, not a lord.
No. But I can't give you a good reason
Actually, you can be knighted if you're from another nationality, just not American. As long as you're from a country that is in the Commonwealth, you can be knighted. For some reason the United States aren't part of it, so Americans can't be knighted, not that it means much anyway...
After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
- The Tao of Programming
But if you're a Canadian, you might have to renounce your citizenship to get peerage from the UK...
Doesn't Microsoft have more money than most countries?
Not sure how to analyze that. But here's one way. Microsofts revenues for 2004 were 38.47 Billion. Here is a link by the CIA for revenues for governments.
Unfortunately, it isn't in any order other than alphabetical. They do have more revenue than some Governments. Note Countries!=Governments.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
According to Wikipedia, if you subsequently become a citizen of GB, you are upgraded to full Knight status. I dunno what the citizenry requirements are like, but I'd assume they're like ours; live there for so many years and you become a naturalized citizen.
Whellp, time for Redmond to pick up off of Washington state and hover over to GB..
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
Of course, Ryan saved the life of the Prince of Wales, which is a much more heroic deed than anything Bill has ever done.
Resistance... is futile.
The Queen Mum is dead, you insensitive clod!
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Okay, if you want to be anal about it, yes, it does require more:
The requirements for naturalization past the continuous citizenship are:
residence in a particular USCIS District prior to filing for citizenship;
an ability to read, write, and speak English;
a knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government;
good moral character;
attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution;
and, favorable disposition toward the United States.
More information on how to obtain US citizenship is available Here.
It is sad that it requires more work to become a citizen of America than just living here, but basically, if you've lived and worked here for long enough, know enough about the government, have moral decency, and are fluent in the ~unofficial~ primary language of the United States, then getting your citizenship is as trivial as filling out some paperwork, taking a test, and an oath.
If you're a poor immigrant, yes, it is much harder, but if you've been living here for long enough to attain citizenship, you've probably been working, have a load of cash somewhere, or someone to bankroll you (a college, for example), and THEY are willing to go the distance to help you become a citizen... Don't make it seem like it's next to impossible.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
No, she doesn't. She runs IIS-5.0 and has done since 2001. Sadly.
Resistance is futile. Reactance buggers it up.
Not to sound like a smartass (ok, yes I am), but since the U.S. isn't part of the Commonwealth then obviously Americans can't be knighted.
However, there are other reasons why U.S. citizens cannot be formally knighted (as opposed to honorarily like Bill). Please see this link which talks a bit about nobility in America and why it is not granted and why people wanting to be naturalized citizens must renounce titles of nobility, and this link which talks about the missing Thirteenth Amendment.
The last link (a very long read) mentions something which goes to the crux of why Americans cannot be formally knighted: to do so would mean they would have to answer to a foreign ruler. In the current case there is no expectation that Bill, or anyone who receives an honorary knighthood, will owe allegiance to the crown.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
FYI, the United States Constitution specifically prohibits U.S. Citizens from accepting titles of nobility or similar honors, as well as prohibiting the creation of American titles of nobility.
The relevant portion is:
[Article One, Section Nine]
"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State."
IANACS (I am not a consitutional scholar), but even though Gates does not hold public office, accepting entrance into the British Peerage would create a citizenship question- if he was, for example, Baron Redmond, he would have to swear allegiance to the Soverign, Queen Elizabeth. U.S. Citizens swear allegiance to the Constitution of the U.S. (the exact words are "preserve, protect, and defend"; in Military entrance ceremonies, Naturalization events, etc. Yes, the President of the US says the exact same thing in his inaugural ceremony) and SPECIFICALLY state that they will not obey a foreign royal. It's an implied condition of natural-born citizens.
However, there are no problems at all in accepting a medal or honorary title. General Eisenhower had medals a'plenty from monarchies after WWII.
If he were a British SUBJECT, once he swears allegiance to Liz the Deuce he would fit naturally into the British system and get his full Knighthood.
I call bullshit.
Microsoft hasn't stolen 10 billion dollars from the American public. Some of their business practices were illegal due to being a monopolist, but that was pretty much a technical issue which I doubt Microsoft thought they would be convicted for.
Gates has obviously profited from some dubious business, but he has also given tons back to the US through taxes, employment, and extending the anglo-american cultural heritage in the western world by keeping the control of the single most important piece of software in the world in the US.
FUDding and monopolizing may have cost a lot for the US, but having the largest, most important software company in the world in your country is priceless.
Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you
You're thinking of Andrew Carnegie.
In any case, Melinda Gates probably deserves the award a lot more. Without her, Bill most likely would have continued to hoard his money.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
I'm a rabid Linux fan, and I detest every moment I have to test my work in IE. However, I have to say that what Bill Gates is doing outside of the computing world is nothing short from wonderful.
I have a deep interest in education, in particular, how to solve the problems we are facing without throwing more money at them. So I am heavily involved in the school issues in my neighborhood, and I am organizing people to research things we can be doing to help out the district. What Bill Gates is doing to the education field is nothing short of amazing. Most recently, he said that the current high school system should be scrapped because it is a complete waste of time. I don't know any Linux fans that would disagree with that.
He is also putting his money where his mouth is. I know that we are looking at getting some of his money to implement his plans in our own district, or at least in the final stages of getting the grant. I don't think there is a district in the US that isn't getting some benefit from what he is doing.
And he does more than that. I don't know the specifics, but I know he is working in Africa and South America trying to help raise the living standard from sub-human to at least what we would call "poverty" in the US.
That is what he is getting knighted for, and not for his achievements in amassing a huge amount of wealth. It is how he is using it that really counts.
Now, I also realize that what Bill did to the computing world was nothing short of amazing as well. Before Bill, we were a sub-culture to be derided and spit upon. Now we are cool, and our skills have street-cred. We have Bill Gates to thank for that.
The radical sect of Islam would either see you dead or "reverted" to Islam.
he has done wonderful things through his Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
Except it's not his Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. It's his father's.
I am Sartre of the Borg. Existence is futile.
Bill Gates and Microsoft did not invent the Personal Computer nor the operation system. Luckily I was involved in the start of the microcomputer revolution. I think that computing would have been much better off if there never was a Microsoft. There was a time when there was much innovation in the computer science field. Once Microsoft came around, companies were being put out of business by some of MS's anti-competitive business practices. For instance, I was the lead programmer for Commodore Amigas Novell Netware. Both Commodore and Novell were adversely affected by MS's business practices. There is not debating that the Amiga OS was lightyears ahead of MS WIndows 3.1. AmigaOS had real multitasking, high-resolution video and audio, and much more software available for it. Novell Netware was the cats-meow so far as Networking systems in the late 80's and early 90's. Microsoft couldn't compete... But so they bundle the network software with the OS, and low and behold, Novell is no longer needed. Then there was the browser wars, etc...
There are people like anorlunda who think that without MS computing would be nowhere. I was contributing and innovating through the 80's and 90's and had some of my work stolen by MS. I have worked on at least three projects which have since been taken over by MS. MS is not innovative, they are predators...
Michael Uman
Michael A. Uman
Sr Software Engineer
softwaremagic.net
No, the not-being-called-Sir part is from Britain, not Congress. As he's not part of the commonwealth, he can't call himself Sir. It's nothing to do with America or Congress or Bush or anything, but a British thing. He's a foreign foreigner, and as such, not a Sir.
this is a restriction to hold public office. ordinary citizens are unaffected.
i doubt there's trouble even when someone already knighted wins office, this is geared towards preventing bribary. does anyone know whether people have been made to renounce titles before taking office?
From the sounds of it, Bill Gates has the cheapest, most common knighthood that the Queen can bestow. The Queen gets to pick the honors on her birthday, but the regular honors list is dictated by the Prime Minister.
Most likely, the Prime Minister told the Queen to give Mr Gates a knighthood, and the Queen told Blair where he could stuff his ideas, with this being the best compromise they could agree on. After all, I doubt they believe Americans would understand the insult or even know there had been one.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Learn to spell... the word is "LOSE".
No, an Office of Profit or Trust is a government position, not a private one. If he were a government official, then Congress would have to give its consent. Something that I expect, in the modern era of Anglo-American relations, is probably routine (how many American military officers were put on the honours list during and after WWII, after all?).
And perhaps a britton can correct me, but I didn't think there was any such thing as an "honorary" ("honourary"?) knighthood. He's been made a life peer, which means that he cannot pass the title to his children, but is the "honorary" nature of it the fact that he is not a citizen?
Microsoft was convicted of abusing their monopoly. By the lower courts and then by unanious opinion of the appeals court.
evil is as evil does