A host of celebrities and community champions have been offered royal accolades over the years. This include knighthoods, OBEs and MBEs - which many accept with many thanks.
But a number of people choose to turn down the offering for a variety of different reasons. These include huge names in music such as David Bowie and John Lennon.
Beloved TV stars such as Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders also declined an honour. Scroll down to read more about who has passed up nominations in the past as well as some of their reasons for doing so.
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Roald Dahl
Author Roald Dahl is known for his hugely successful children's books including Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However, he decided to reject an OBE in the 1986 New Year’s Honours, YorkshireLive reports.
Stephen Hawking
Scientist Stephen Hawking was offered a knighthood in the 1990s but decided to turn it down. His decision was said to have been down to the government's dealing with science funding and cuts. He was appointed a CBE.
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
Comedy duo French and Saunders turned down OBEs in 2001. Saunders later said: "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.
“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."
David Bowie
Music legend David Bowie said that a knighthood was "just not for him." He continued: "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."
Nigella Lawson
The TV chef turned down an OBE back in 2001.
Paul Weller
Back in 2006, musician Paul Weller turned down a CBE. A spokesperson said at the time: "Paul was surprised and flattered but it wasn’t really for him.
John Cleese
John was offered a CBE in 1996 but turned it down and dubbed them "silly". He was offered a peerage by Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown in 1999 but declined because he felt staying in England during the winter months to fulfil his role as a working peer was "too much of a price to pay".
Jon Snow
Broadcaster Jon Snow declined an OBE in 2000. He went on to make a documentary in 2002 titled 'Secrets of the Honours System'.
Ken Loach
Film maker Ken Loach turned down an OBE in 1977. He told the Radio Times in 2001: “It’s all the things I think are despicable: patronage, deferring to the monarchy and the name of the British Empire, which is a monument of exploitation and conquest.
"I turned down the OBE because it’s not a club you want to join when you look at the villains who’ve got it."
Jim Broadbent
The actor said in 2012: "I was offered an OBE a couple of years ago, but I said no."
Danny Boyle
Film director Danny turned down an honour because he thought it "was wrong" to claim credit for his work as the man behind the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony.
"It's just not me," he said. "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."
Howard Gayle
Liverpool FC’s first black player turned down an MBE saying that his "ancestors would be turning in their graves after how Empire and colonialism had enslaved them."
He added in a statement: "This is a decision that I have had to make and there will be others who may feel different and would enjoy the attraction of being a Member of the British Empire and those 3 letters after their name, but I feel that It would be a betrayal to all of the Africans who have lost their lives, or who have suffered as a result of empire."
Phil Scraton
Author Phil Scraton rejected the offer of an OBE in 2016. He said that successive governments reneged “on any kind of support for the families in getting to the truth”.
Benjamin Zephaniah
The late Brummie poet made a public refusal to become an OBE in 2003. Writing in the Guardian at the time: “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.”
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Journalist and author Yasmin described herself as having been “stupid” to accept an MBE, which she later returned. Yasmin said she partly accepted the honour to please her mother before returning it and she now speaks “with the zeal of a convert”.
George Harrison
In 2000 the former Beatle turned down an OBE after his bandmate Paul McCartney was awarded a knighthood.
John Lennon
John Lennon is one of the few honours recipients to send his back, returning his MBE in 1969 in protest against Britain's foreign policy.
He reportedly wrote to the Queen saying: “Your Majesty, I am returning my MBE as a protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against ‘Cold Turkey’ (his then current single with the Plastic Ono Band) slipping down the charts."
Michael Sheen
Actor Michael Sheen gave back his OBE in 2017, after being awarded it in 2009 for his services to drama. He chose to do so as he did not want to be a “hypocrite” when he aired his views about the monarchy in a Raymond Williams lecture.
CS Lewis
The author of the Chronicles of Narnia books declined a CBE in 1952. CS Lewis reportedly rejected the honour so as to avoid association with any political issues
