Honours are awards given by the state to acknowledge a personal achievement, bravery, exceptional performance or extended periods of service in public life or in institutions like the military.
Today – as a companion piece to last week’s post on titles and heraldry (and another re-write) – I’ll be looking at how an independent Wales could run an honours system.
With this out of the way, the next “meaty” series on independence will be:
Overall principles of a Welsh honours system
Based on the problems with the UK system, if we were starting a new honours system from scratch, then off the top of my head:
- There should be an open nominations process and a closed selection process.
- There should be a limit on how many honours can be awarded in any calendar year – though the limit could be exceeded to improve gender balance and ensure people from under-represented communities are properly recognised.
- Clearly understood and transparent rules and guidelines to be nominated for an honour, with “service to the people of Wales” and “exceptional individual achievement” being towards the top of the list.
- Awarding members of the public and non-political public figures would be the priority. There could be a moratorium on people who hold (elected) political or politically-sensitive roles (including civil servants) receiving an honour until they’ve left office. There should be no role for politicians in the selection process either (nominations would be fine).
- No residency or nationality requirements – they can be awarded to foreign citizens if they meet the criteria. Awards can be conferred posthumously also.
- A ban on honours being granted to curry favour, in exchange for something (i.e. a political donation), as a promise or as a “gift”.
- Pre-existing honours (MBEs, knighthoods etc.) wouldn’t be invalidated; someone who has a pre-existing UK honour wouldn’t be barred from nomination for a “new” Welsh honour.
- A formal means to revoke/forfeit honours and a right to decline an honour.
Choosing a system
Based on what’s commonplace around the world, there are at least four options:
- A Chivalric Order (“Order of St. David”) – which would effectively replicate the UK honours system on a Welsh scale, with Knights/Dames, Commanders, Officers and Members. It would almost certainly have to come with royal patronage to be “legitimate”. I wouldn’t be surprised if something like this happens in the future anyway. If we wanted to be really pretentious, as the legacy state of the Britons an independent Wales could “resurrect” in name the Knights (and now Dames) of the Round Table.
- A Civil Order (“Order of Merit of Wales”) – similar to the Canadian Order of Merit, with at least three grades (commander, officer and member). Nobody in Wales would be able to become a knight under this option unless awarded by a foreign government.
- A Civilian Award (“Welsh Parliamentary Medal for XYZ”) – taking inspiration from the United States to an extent, with medals being awarded without membership of an order. Those medals could be subject-specific (science, sport, culture, public life etc.) with different names.
- No formal state honours system – This is a legitimate option. As mentioned earlier, the Gorsedd and St. David Awards are technically a Welsh honours system already. Maybe in the case of the latter, it can be tweaked to take decisions out of the First Minister’s hands and instead to an awards committee or even a public vote (though that could be cruel).
My personal preference would be a Civil Order, without the strict order of precedence as in the UK system.
 What could a formal Welsh honours system look like?
This is based on Wales having a civil Order of Merit similar to Canada.
There would be a nomination period in which any Welsh citizen or dual national can nominate someone for an honour. A selection committee chosen from amongst award-holders would use the criteria to whittle nominations down to a longlist. After that, they would further reduce it to a shortlist and decide which award/grade the nominee would receive before the nominees are vetted (i.e. criminal background/fit and proper person check).
Anyone who doesn’t make the shortlist could be nominated in future years but you can only be awarded an honour once.
If someone is successful they’ll be told in good time and encouraged to keep it secret (as now). If someone refuses an honour they could have their reasons for their objection noted. Members of the Order could also be responsible for deciding whether to revoke an honour (i.e. for committing a serious crime, being struck off a professional register, bringing the Order into disrepute).
There could be maybe at least three grades based on similar honours around the Commonwealth:
- Arwr Cenedlaethol/National Hero (no more than 1-5 awarded-per-year) – Extraordinary self-sacrifice, bravery, duty or application. You’re talking once-in-a-generation talents, people who perform/have performed acts worthy of a Victoria or George Cross and major figures in Welsh history – most are already likely to be dead, but inducting people into this award could be the highlight each year.
- Swyddog/Officer (~10-20 awarded-per-year) – Distinguished service above and beyond the call of duty. The equivalent of a knighthood/damehood for someone who’s done something that’s stood out or put Wales on the map in some way. These would be the Oscar winners, successful sports stars and people who’ve made a breakthrough of some kind in their particular field. Only the most popular and successful politicians would get this one after they’ve left office.
- Aelod/Member (~50-75 awarded a year) – Service worthy of recognition. The equivalent of CBEs, MBEs etc. and awarded for consistently excellent or selfless public service, charitable work or a very significant one-off act.
Honours recipients would get appropriate post-nominal initials and a medal of some kind. An alternative would be a pre-nominal title such as “The Honourable”.
There would naturally be a cost – more so for the event of conferring the honours and the time taken up sifting through nominations than the actual medals themselves. The UK honours system has been previously estimated to cost around £1million-a-year to maintain and you would expect Welsh equivalent to be less, particularly if the number of awards each year are capped.
There are alternative rewards than medals too – though they may be more expensive.
If we want to be pretentious then “National Heroes” could be eligible for public buildings (schools, hospitals, railway stations etc.) and military vessels to be named after them. “Officers” could have a portrait for public display or a poem commissioned in their honour. “Members” would have a professionally-taken photo for public display.
There would be some sort of award ceremony (this is Wales after all) and St David’s Day or the days around it would be the obvious time to hold it, or it could become part of the National Eisteddfod.
