Rod Stewart, Hugh Laurie Get the Royal Touch
If you were to line them up according to their new royal assignations, Rod Stewart would outrank Hugh Laurie, but the good doctor has one up on the Beatles.
Stewart was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on the Queen's New Year's Honors list issued Monday, giving him the option of using the letters CBE after his name.
Laurie, meanwhile, was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), a lesser title than Stewart's, but higher than Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), which is what all four Beatles received in 1965.
While Queen Elizabeth II is responsible for handing out the medals, Prime Minister Tony Blair chose this year's recipients (per tradition—the prime minister picks; the queen presents). The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, an order of chivalry that encompasses five civil and military classes, with the highest being Knight (or Dame) Grand Cross, was established in 1917 by King George V.
Stewart's most recent album, Still the Same...Great Rock Classics of Our Time (meaning his time), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in October, proving that plenty of people still think the London-born rocker is sexy.
On Dec. 12, Stewart performed for the first time at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum in front of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall (aka the former Camilla Parker Bowles).
About this latest honor, the Grammy winner said that he was "overjoyed."
"Although I'm living in California, I'm very proud to be British," Stewart told BBC News. "We will be celebrating the good news later today."
"We," meaning Stewart, fiancée Penny Lancaster and their one-year-old son, Alistair Wallace Stewart, the singer's seventh child.
Laurie, who in Britain is known more for his comedic and writing skills on TV series such as Blackadder and the sketch show A Bit of Fry and Laurie, won a Golden Globe last year and was nominated for an Emmy for his role as the cantankerous American title character on House.
Former celebrity CBE honorees include Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Alec Guinness, Anthony Hopkins, Elton John, Ian McKellen, J.R.R. Tolkien, Diana Rigg, Beatles producer George Martin and Christopher Lee.
Meanwhile, Laurie and his OBE join the ranks of such talents as Pierce Brosnan, Patrick Stewart, J.K. Rowling, David Beckham, Jimmy Page, Robbie Coltrane, Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, Charlotte Rampling, Jane Seymour, Dusty Springfield and Imelda Staunton.
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