News: Steve Jobs' honorary knighthood blocked

Apple’s co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs was reportedly up for an honorary knighthood in 2009, only to have his knighthood blocked by Gordon Brown, the then British Prime Minister.

According to The Telegraph, Jobs looked set to be awarded with an honorary knighthood by the British government and Queen Elizabeth II in 2009, for his “services to [field of] technology”.

Brown blocked his nomination though, as the charismatic CEO had declined an invitation to speak at a conference of the Labour Party.

The British paper’s source, who is a former senior Labour MP, stated that Apple knew of the proposal, and that Brown only rejected it whilst it reached the final stages of approval.

Citizens of countries outside the British Commonwealth of Nations (that doesn’t have Queen Elizabeth II as their head of State) can have an honorary knighthood awarded to them. An example would be Bill Gates who received the honour in 2005.

If the honorary knighthood had been bestowed upon Jobs, he would not have been called ‘Sir Jobs’ though, but would be entitled to have the letter KBE (Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire) put after his name.

Steve Jobs' honorary knighthood blocked

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