Can a Foreigner Be Knighted?
As gamers, we love the idea of embarking on virtuous quests and gaining fancy titles marking our great deeds. Though chivalric knighthood seems like medieval history, foreigners can still unlock these prestigious honors through a modern achievement system – honorary knighthoods from the British monarchy.
After vanquishing the dread tournament at Wimbledon, even tennis knight Sir Andy Murray had to level up to an OBE ranking. So can a non-British citizen collect such glory? Equip your heraldry and stats sheets as we dive into the lore on conferring royal knighthood renown to outsiders.
The Eternal Allure of the Knightly Life
Since adventuring knights first charged into English lore in the 600s AD, the image of the knight as a brave protector and beacon of virtue has captured imaginations. Whether it‘s King Arthur‘s legendary Round Table fellowship or the iconic Jedi knights of Star Wars, gamers and geeks find chivalric themes irresistible.
We love creating righteous warrior heroes within sweeping sagas, earning new perks and ranks for valorous acts. Setting forth on epic quests just feels right.
Even into the 20th century, achieving a British knighthood carried huge prestige as a badge of merit for contributions to society, science and culture.
But in this modern age of democracy, can outsiders still join the royal ranks of British knighthood?
The Surprising Honorific System for Foreign Citizens
It turns out King George V created "honorary" knighthood designations specifically so worthy subjects outside the British Empire could receive knighthood-level props.
These honorary awards work on a special sub-class system where foreigners can unlock recognition and use post-nominal letters, but not the "Sir/Dame" titles or membership privileges of standard knighthood orders.
Still, receiving any acknowledgement of extraordinary merit from the Crown is a high tribute.
Since 1917, over 300 eminent foreign politicians, artists, scientists and leaders have gained honorary knight achievements.
Even virtual rulers like King Roland of Daventry in King‘s Quest was canonically knighted by the real King George VI!
The Grueling Quest to Earn Royal Glory as a Foreign Knight
With standards high, even celebrity elites have to grind hard work and RNG luck to level up their royal honors.
Foreign knight candidates typically:
- Max out fame/impact in culture/science/leadership
- Clear end-game legacy quests and random moral trials
- Cash in years securing vital interest gains for the UK
- Luck into inspiring British diplomats with their tales
Then begins the real labor of courting nobility!
To log a foreign knighthood, advocates must:
- Submit nomination packets detailing mighty quest triumphs
- Recruit head knights and dukes to sponsor the bid
- Quest again by aiding more UK interests for good GP
- Await final review and knighting decrees from the monarch
With piles of paperwork and years building renown, even a basic honorary knight badge is a meta-achievement for commitment.
Top-tier knighthood honors like the Order of the Garter? Now those take Herculean exploits!
Odds of a Foreigner Scoring a British Accolade
| Year | Honorary Knights | Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 356 | 1 in 1.7 million |
| 2000 | 237 | 1 in 2.9 million |
| 1980 | 154 | 1 in 4.8 million |
| 1960 | 89 | 1 in 10.5 million |
As you can see adventurer, the random chance of being gifted a foreign knighthood remains incredibly rare even as globalization expands the potential knight pool.
But that only enhances the golden glow for those destined to cross class barriers and gain royal honors!
Famous Foreign Knights Living the Dream
While the "Sir" and "Dame" titles stay confined to British citizens, the achievement boards still flash big names who‘ve leveled up via honorary knights credentials.
Gaze in awe at this international fellowship of ultras powering up with fancy post-nominal glyphs:
- Sir Bill Gates KBE: Unlocked infinite riches and eradicated diseases through coding magic.
- Steven Spielberg KBE: Crafted wondrous realms and myths as a master bard of the cinema arts.
- Angela Merkel OM: United fractious Germanic tribes through epic statecraft and sheer willpower.
- Bono KBE: Channelled mystical music charisma to smash poverty and heal the world.
- Sir Edmund Hillary KG: Ascended Olympus itself by conquering Mount Everest with his battle buddy Tenzing.
- Ronald Reagan KG: Rose from humble wizard‘s origins to rally the forces of the West against the Soviet specter.
- Bob Geldof KBE: Organized the mightiest benefit concert spell to banish African famine and poverty debuffs.
Indeed, every foreign-born knight has a legendary biography chronicling how their superlative skills impacted Britain and beyond.
We can think of them as world champion guildmasters who gained cross-cultural recognition through amazing feats.
The Future: Unlocking Tech-Augmented Knighting Immersion
While earning legit foreign knighthood credentials may stay improbable for average players, future tech could let us feel the rush of being knighted!
With cellular knighting tech, we may get to virtually kneel before AI royalty in augmented/VR realms and receive sensory previews of acoustic honors, royal touch sensations, emotional bliss etc.
Hi-fi ceremonies could have sublime visuals, smelled incense, majestic spatial audio, absolutely convincingly royal vibes for 60 seconds or so.
It wouldn‘t confer actual merits or rewards, but could satisfy inner fantasies of getting knighted for those with deep princess/knight dreams.
Temporary knighting trips could give delightful taste without ridiculous grinding or cash buys. Democratization of nobility!
This sci-fi advance remains years away, but with biofeedback suites and neural implants improving fast, getting virtually knighted at Buckingham Palace could be on future achievement lists!
Conclusion: Uncommon Glory Within Reach
While the age of knightly adventure never ended for gamers, we retain fascination with the ultimate IRL achievements represented by British knighthood and damehood.
The strict eligibility codes rightly limit how many can gain the title‘s real in-game powers. Yet the backdoor for honorary knights gives a tiny chance for those with mythic enough feats to claim cosmic bragging rights.
Through adversity-conquering skill and aid to Britain, it‘s possible for wizards, bards and warrior heroes of any origin to unlock royal esteem and stand alongside history‘s highest level champions.
For select phenoms with PvP skillsmaxed and Lady Luck‘s blessing, the journey to become Sir [You] or Dame [You] glitteringly beckons. Why not quest for the stars? Fortune favors the bold!
