For a lot of celebrities, being honoured by royalty is seen as a dream come true and a huge achievement – but not everyone shares the same view.
While it may seem like a bucket list dream for most, others have an array of reasons for not being interested, and a whole load of famous faces actually turned down the chance to become a Sir or Dame.
It comes as this year’s New Year Honour list has just been released, recognising the likes of acting sensation Idris Elba, ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, and England’s Lionesses.
If you’re unfamiliar, King Charles’ New Year Honours List 2026 is about recognising ‘community champions who have made outstanding contributions to their communities across the UK’.
Special honours such as OBE, MBE and CBE are given to recognise people’s achievements and service to the country.
The official Royal Family website explains: “As ‘fountain of honour’ in the UK, The Sovereign has the sole right of conferring titles of honour on deserving people from all walks of life, in public recognition of their merit, service or bravery.”
But over the years, who has refused or returned their honour and why?
David Bowie
David Bowie turned down not one but two honours from the late Queen Elizabeth II before he died in 2016.
He declined both a CBE in 2000, and then the prestigious honour of a knighthood in 2003.
The legendary musician told The Sun in 2003: “I would never have any intention of accepting anything like that. I seriously don’t know what it’s for. It’s not what I spent my life working for.”
Speaking of Mick Jagger accepting a knighthood in the same year, he added: “It’s not my place to make a judgment on Jagger, it’s his decision. But it’s just not for me.”
As per the BBC, when pressed on whether he was ‘anti-monarchy,’ he responded: “I’d only have a serious answer to that if I was living in this country,” as he was residing in the US at the time.
Alan Cumming
Scottish actor and director Alan Cumming initially accepted his OBE back in 2009, saying he was ‘incredibly grateful’ to be honoured for services to acting and the work he does for LGBTQ rights in America.
He said at the time: “The fight for equality for the LGBT community in the US is something I am very passionate about, and I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen.”
However, 14 years later, he returned it, saying his eyes had been ‘opened’ over ‘the toxicity of empire’.
He said that the death of the Queen and the ‘ensuing conversations about the role of monarchy and especially the way the British Empire profited at the expense (and death) of indigenous peoples across the world really opened my eyes’.
Cumming added: “Also, thankfully, times and laws in the US have changed, and the great good the award brought to the LGBTQ+ cause back in 2009 is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of empire.
“So I returned my award, explained my reasons and reiterated my great gratitude for being given it in the first place. I’m now back to being plain old Alan Cumming again. Happy birthday to me!”
Michael Sheen
Actor Michael Sheen was also awarded his OBE in the year of 2009 and gave it back years later.
It came after he’d been studying Welsh history and felt unable to keep the honour while speaking openly about his views on the British monarchy and Wales’ constitutional position.
In 2017, he was asked to give a public lecture on Welsh history at a memorial event for Welsh socialist writer, Raymond Williams.
He told The Guardian: “I [researched] a lot about Welsh history. I’m still standing at the foothills of an understanding of all that, but that was a crash course.
“I remember sitting there going, ‘Well, I have a choice. I either don’t give this lecture and hold on to my OBE, or I give this lecture, and I have to give my OBE back.’ I wanted to still give the lecture, so I gave my OBE back.”
As per Metro, at the time he also said that he believed Wales should be independent from the UK, and he said that Prince William, a non-Welshman, being made the Prince of Wales was ‘silly’.
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
Comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders both got the offer of an MBE for their services to comedy and drama, but turned it down.
Jennifer later explained: “If I felt I deserved a damehood, I’d accept it. At the time, we felt that we were being paid very well to have a lot of fun. It didn’t seem right somehow.”
She added: “We didn’t deserve a pat on the back. It felt a bit fake to stand alongside people who devoted their lives to truly worthy causes.”
Stephen Hawking
In 2008, Stephen Hawking said he had been approached with an offer of a knighthood in the late 1990s but had turned it down.
His decision was reportedly due to have been because of the government’s handling of science funding and cuts.
However, his exact motive for not accepting was never made clear.
Nigella Lawson
Also on the list is TV chef and food writer Nigella Lawson, who was offered an OBE back in 2001.
However, for similar reasons to Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, she opted to turn down the honour.
She said at the time: “I’m not saving lives, and I’m not doing anything other than something I absolutely love.”
John Lennon and George Harrison
The Beatles legend John Lennon is also in the group of celebrities who returned his honour later in life.
As per MyLondon, he initially accepted an MBE but chose to hand it back in 1969 in opposition to Britain’s foreign policy.
In a letter, explaining his choice, he reportedly stated: “Your Majesty, I am returning this in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts. With Love, John Lennon of Bag.”
In 1997, his bandmate Sir Paul McCartney accepted a knighthood while George Harrison rejected an OBE.
Ray Connolly, a journalist who knew The Beatles at points during their career, reportedly told the Mail: “Whoever decided to offer [Harrison] the OBE and not the knighthood was extraordinarily insensitive. He would have felt insulted.”
Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle turned down an honour for his work as the Artistic Director for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
He said it ‘was wrong’ for him to take all of the credit for something that was worked on by thousands.
He told the Radio Times: “You can make these speeches about, ‘This is everybody’s work, blah blah blah’. And you’ve got to mean it, and I did mean it, and it is true, and it’s the only way you can carry on something like that: through the efforts of all the people.
“I don’t know whether I’ll ever get invited back to the palace.”
Benjamin Zephaniah
Poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who died in 2023, turned down an OBE in 2003 in protest against British government policies and the British Empire.
At the time, he publicly wrote in The Guardian: “Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought. I get angry when I hear that word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds of thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised.”
He later added: “Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.”
