Angelina Jolie Made an Honorary Dame by Queen Elizabeth II, Says Honor "Means a Great Deal to Me"

"To receive an honor related to foreign policy means a great deal to me, as it is what I wish to dedicate my working life to," actress says

By Bruna Nessif Jun 13, 2014 9:54 PMTags
Angelina JolieKarwai Tang/WireImage

One of Hollywood's royals has been honored by an actual royal!

Angelina Jolie has been made into an honorary Dame by Queen Elizabeth II. The A-list actress was chosen for recognition in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours for her campaigning work against sexual violence and the use of rape as a weapon of war.

Since Jolie is a foreign citizen, she cannot be addressed as Dame, but receives the award on an honorary basis.

Angelina reportedly said, "To receive an honor related to foreign policy means a great deal to me, as it is what I wish to dedicate my working life to. Working on PVSI and with survivors of rape is an honour in itself. I know that succeeding in our goals will take a lifetime, and I am dedicated to it for all of mine."

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That wasn't the first (or probably last) royal encounter for Angie.

Jolie met Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall after the humanitarian spoke at a summit on global sexual violence in London over the past few days.

The 39-year-old, who serves as a U.N. Special Envoy, visited Clarence House on Thursday evening where she joined British Foreign Secretary William Hague for a visit with Prince Charles' wife. Judging by the photo, the pair seemed to be delighted to finally meet, with Angelina and Camilla each sharing a sincere smile at one another.

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Ending sexual violence is a cause close to the Duchess' heart. Camilla has visited rape crisis centers across the U.K., where she has talked with rape survivors and been touched by their experiences. Jolie co-chaired the four-day Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, and addressed ways to raise awareness in front of representatives from more than 100 countries.

The award-winning actress continued to speak on her humanitarian efforts as a guest on Ronan Farrow's MSNBC show Ronan Farrow Daily today, where she touched on the crisis caused by sexual violence in conflict and explained what made her get involved in the first place.

"It was meeting with victims of rape, sitting there and hearing their stories and realizing how little had been done, how little prosecutions, how little people have been held accountable for such a horrendous crime. And it is, as we were speaking before the cameras started rolling, it is connected to refugee issues—all global issues," she said.

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"I think that's one of the important things to come out of this summit, is to say, 'We're not saying this is the most important. It's important to us, it's important to so many people but it's also a centerpoint to all violence against women and all injustices in the world.'

"And the summit was a way for us to explore how to tackle one issue from a very focused way, to see how we can, for the first time, bring together survivors, doctors in the field, NGOs, government officials, U.N., all under the same tent, all talking about the same issues, all different countries, and making sure that we haven't left any stone unturned, that we're making sure we address it completely."

The Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict took two years to organize.

On the first day of the summit, Jolie told reporters that she and Hague had discussed a woman they met in Bosnia, who was still too ashamed to tell her son she'd been raped. "This day is for her," Jolie said. "We believe it truly is a summit like no other."