Queen Elizabeth II Appointed Celebrity Dames
by Breumaster | created - 09 Sep 2022 | updated - 16 Sep 2022 | PublicOn September 8, 2022, the iconic royal highness passed at age 96. With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, many people around the world are united in grief. She was and still is a reminder of stability and unity. Queen Elizabeth II, who experienced royal burdens and 70 years of excercise of royal business, also honored many celebrities in appreciation of their work, which indeed is a great honor. We take a look at the Dames.
Which of these celebrities appointed by Queen Elizabeth II a Dame of the British Empire or higher is your favorite one?
Please tell us here.
1. Helen Mirren
Actress | The Queen
Dame Helen Mirren was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in West London. Her mother, Kathleen Alexandrina Eva Matilda (Rogers), was from a working-class English family, and her father, Vasiliy Petrovich Mironov, was a Russian-born civil servant, from Kuryanovo, whose own father was a diplomat. ...
She refused a title as Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996. But later in 2003 she was appointed to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
2. Judi Dench
Actress | Skyfall
Dame Judi Dench was born Judith Olivia Dench in York, England, to Eleanora Olive (Jones), who was from Dublin, Ireland, and Reginald Arthur Dench, a doctor from Dorset, England. She attended Mount School in York, and studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has performed with the ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1970. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1988. Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour since 2005.
3. Maggie Smith
Actress | Gosford Park
One of the world's most famous and distinguished actresses, Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex. Her Scottish mother, Margaret (Hutton), worked as a secretary, and her English father, Nathaniel Smith, was a teacher at Oxford University. Smith has been married twice: to actor ...
Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1970. Dame Commander of the British Empire since 1990. Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour since 2014.
4. Diana Rigg
Actress | Last Night in Soho
British actress Dame Diana Rigg was born on July 20, 1938 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. She has had an extensive career in film and theatre, including playing the title role in "Medea", both in London and New York, for which she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
Rigg made her ...
Commander of the British Empire since 1987. Dame Commander of the British Empire since 1994.
5. Margaret Rutherford
Actress | The V.I.P.s
Rare is the reference to Margaret Rutherford that doesn't characterize her as either jut-chinned, eccentric, or both. The combination of those most mundane of attributes has led some to suggest that she was made for the role of Agatha Christie's indomitable sleuth, Jane Marple, whom Rutherford ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1961. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1967.
6. Julie Andrews
Actress | The Sound of Music
Julia Elizabeth Wells was born on October 1, 1935, in England. Her mother, Barbara Ward (Morris), and stepfather, both vaudeville performers, discovered her freakish but undeniably lovely four-octave singing voice and immediately got her a singing career. She performed in music halls throughout her...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1999.
7. Agatha Christie
Writer | Les petits meurtres d'Agatha Christie
Agatha was born as "Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller" in 1890 to Frederick Alvah Miller and Clara Boehmer. Agatha was of American and British descent, her father being American and her mother British. Her father was a relatively affluent stockbroker. Agatha received home education from early childhood ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1971.
8. Angela Lansbury
Actress | The Manchurian Candidate
Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2014.
9. Kristin Scott Thomas
Actress | Gosford Park
The acclaimed Cornish actress Dame Kristin Scott Thomas was born in Redruth, Cornwall, to Deborah (Hurlbatt) and Lieutenant Commander Simon Scott Thomas. Her father was a pilot for the British Royal Navy and died in a flying accident in 1964. Her stepfather, Lt. Cdr Simon Idiens, was also a pilot, ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 2003. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2015.
10. Elizabeth Taylor
Actress | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was considered one of the last, if not the last, major star to have come out of the old Hollywood studio system. She was known internationally for her beauty, especially for her violet eyes, with which she captured audiences early in her youth and kept the world hooked ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1999.
11. Shirley Bassey
Soundtrack | Moonraker
Shirley Bassey was born in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, and raised in the nearby working class neighborhood of Splott. Her mother was originally from Yorkshire, and her father was a Nigerian seaman who left the family when she was less than two. She later helped to support her family by working in an...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1999.
12. Harriet Walter
Actress | Sense and Sensibility
Dame Harriet Mary Walter DBE is a British actress. She has received a Laurence Olivier Award as well as numerous nominations including for a Tony Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2011, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) ...
Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1999. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2010.
13. Twiggy
Actress | The Boy Friend
Twiggy is a top model of the late 1960s, who made skinny an "inny," along with other famous skinny models such as Jean Shrimpton ("The Shrimp"), Veruschka von Lehndorff, and Penelope Tree ("The Tree"). She was born Leslie Hornby on September 19, 1949, in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, one of three...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2019.
14. Vanessa Redgrave
Actress | Coriolanus
On January 30, 1937, renowned theatre actor Michael Redgrave was performing in a production of Hamlet in London. During the curtain call, the show's lead, Laurence Olivier, announced to the audience: "tonight a great actress was born". This was in reference to his co-star's newborn daughter, ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2022.
15. Emma Thompson
Actress | Sense and Sensibility
Emma Thompson was born on April 15, 1959 in Paddington, London, into a family of actors - father Eric Thompson and mother Phyllida Law, who has co-starred with Thompson in several films. Her sister, Sophie Thompson, is an actor as well. Her father was English-born and her mother is Scottish-born. ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2018.
16. Angelina Jolie
Actress | Maleficent
Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). Off-screen, Jolie has become ...
Honorary Dame Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George since 2014.
17. Joan Collins
Actress | Dynasty
Joan Collins is an English actress from Paddington, London. She is most famous for playing the role of vengeful schemer Alexis Carrington Colby in the soap opera "Dynasty" (1981-1989). In 1997, She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama. In 2015, She...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1997. Dame Commander of the Order of the Britsh Empire since 2015.
18. Olivia Newton-John
Soundtrack | Grease
Olivia Newton-John was an English singer and actress who was born on September 26, 1948, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. In 1954, her family relocated to Australia when her father was offered a job as the dean of a Presbyterian college in Melbourne. After winning a singing talent contest...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1979. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2020.
19. Anna Wintour
Actress | Zoolander 2
Anna Wintour was born in Hampstead, London, England, the daughter of an American mother, Eleanor Trego (Baker), and an English father, Charles Wintour, former Editor of the Evening Standard. She is from an upper-class family, with many prominent ancestors. She started her career in 1970, working in...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2017.
20. Penelope Wilton
Actress | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Penelope Wilton was born on June 3, 1946 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Match Point (2005). She was previously married to Ian Holm and Daniel Massey.
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2016.
21. Olivia de Havilland
Actress | Gone with the Wind
Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916 in Tokyo, Japan to British parents, Lilian Augusta (Ruse), a former actress, and Walter Augustus de Havilland, an English professor and patent attorney. Her sister Joan, later to become famous as Joan Fontaine, was born the following year. Her ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2017.
22. Joanna Lumley
Actress | Absolutely Fabulous
Joanna Lumley was born on 1 May, 1946 in Kashmir, India, to British parents, Thya Beatrice Rose (Weir) and James Rutherford Lumley. Her father was a major in the Gurkha Rifles, and she spent most of her early childhood in the Far East where her father was posted.
An aspiring actress, she first came ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1995. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2022.
23. Julie Walters
Actress | Billy Elliot
For decades, British actress and comedienne Dame Julie Walters has served as a sturdy representation of the working class with her passionate, earthy portrayals on England's stage, screen and television. A bona fide talent, her infectious spirit and self-deprecating sense of humor eventually ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1999. Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2008. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2017.
24. Iris Murdoch
Writer | The Italian Girl
Iris Murdoch was born on July 15, 1919 in Dublin, Ireland. She was a writer and actress, known for The Italian Girl, Television Theater (1953) and A Severed Head (1971). She was married to John Bayley. She died on February 8, 1999 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.
Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1976. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1987.
25. Wendy Hiller
Actress | A Man for All Seasons
Wendy Hiller, daughter of Frank and Marie Hiller, was born on 15th August 1912 in Bramhall, near Stockport, Cheshire, England. She was educated at Winceby House School, Bexhill then moved on to Manchester Repertory Theatre. She appeared on stage in Sir John Barry's tour of Evensong, then as Sally ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1971. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1975.
26. Peggy Ashcroft
Actress | A Passage to India
Academy Award-winning, legendary English actress - who maintained her status in the British acting elite for decades. Made a Dame of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 1956. Almost always on stage, she appeared rarely in film, her first being The Wandering Jew (1933). On stage she was cast...
Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1951. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1956.
27. Patricia Routledge
Actress | Keeping Up Appearances
Daughter of Catherine and Isaac Routledge. Her father was a haberdasher, and, during WWII, the family lived weeks at a time in the basement of her father's shop. She attended Birkenhead High School, where she sang in the choir and ran the Sunday School. She studied English at Liverpool University, ...
Officer of the Order of the British Empire since 1993. Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2004. Dame Commander of the British Empire since 2017.
28. Jane Goodall
Writer | Jane
After her school education, she initially attended a school for secretaries, but in 1957, at the invitation of a former schoolmate, she realized her long-held dream of getting to know Africa and traveled to Kenya. She found a job at the Kenya National Museum and came into contact with its director ...
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2004.
29. Flora Robson
Actress | Clash of the Titans
Flora Robson knew she was no beauty, but her wise and sympathetic face would become a familiar - indeed, shining - ornament of the 1930s and '40s silver screen. Though not sure of acting as a career in her early years, she first appeared on stage when 5 years old. She was educated at Palmer's Green...
Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1952. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1960.
30. Kelly Holmes
Actress | Absolutely Fabulous
Kelly Holmes was born on April 19, 1970 in Pembury, Kent, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Absolutely Fabulous (1992), Superstars (2008) and Ten Count.
Member of the Order of the British Empire since 1998. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2005.
31. Ann Murray
Soundtrack | The Remains of the Day
Ann Murray was born on August 27, 1949 in Dublin, Ireland. She is an actress, known for The Remains of the Day (1993), Xerxes (1988) and Le Nozze di Figaro (2012).
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 2002.
32. Melinda Gates
Producer | Origin
Melinda Gates was born on August 15, 1964 in Dallas, Texas, USA. She is a producer, known for Origin (2023), Smarter Every Day (2011) and Gomorron (1992). She was previously married to Bill Gates.
Honorary Dame Commender of the Order of the British Empire since 2013.
33. Violet Bonham Carter
Self | An Evening with...
Violet Bonham Carter was born on April 15, 1887 in Hampstead, London, England, UK. She was married to Maurice Bonham Carter. She died on February 19, 1969.
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire since 1953 coronation hours. She was appointed posthumously. Violet Bonham Carter, Baroness Asquith of Yarnbury, is the grandmother of Helena Bonham Carter.
34. Hélène Hayman
Self | Central Tonight
She was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to the House of Lords.
Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire since 2012.
35. Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925 in Grantham, England, the younger daughter of Alfred and Beatrice Roberts. Her father was a greengrocer and respected town leader, serving as lay-leader with their church, city-alderman and then as mayor. He taught Margaret never to do things because ...
Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council since 1970. Member of the Order of Merrit since 1983. Dame of Order of Justice of Saint John since 1991. Life Peer as Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven in the county of Lincolnshire in 1992. Lady of the Order of the Garter since 1995. (The highest possible achievement in chivalry.)
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