March 4, 2009
UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown announced Sen Ted Kennedy's honorary knighthood today during his speech to the joint session of Congress. He had notified Kennedy last evening.
BROWN: I hope that you will allow me to single out for special mention today one of your most distinguished senators, known in every continent and a great frien.
Northern Ireland is today at peace, more Americans have health care, more children around the world are going to school, and for all those things we owe a great debt to the life and courage of Senator Edward Kennedy.
SEN KENNEDY: I'm deeply grateful to Her Majesty the Queen and to Prime Minister Brown for this extraordinary honor. I have always prized the opportunity to work with the British government and strengthen and deepen the role of our two countries as leading beacons of democracy in the world. I am proud that I was able to play a part in the decades-long effort to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
I also think of my ties to Britain that stretch back across the years-from my childhood to the Kennedy Scholars today who come from Britain to study in America. It was from Britain that my oldest brother left for his last mission during World War II. It is in Britain that a portion of land at Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed, is now designated as American soil and dedicated to President Kennedy as a gift of the British people.
So for me, this honor is moving and personal- a reflection not only of my public life, but of things that profoundly matter to me as an individual. I accept this honor in the spirit in which it is given, with a continuing commitment to be a voice for the voiceless and for the shared ideals of freedom and fairness which are so fundamental to the character of our two countries.
Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, was U.S. ambassador to Britain between 1938-1940. His son, Rep Patrick Kennedy (RI), thanked PM Brown.
He will not be "Sir", which is reserved for British citizens. He will have the letters "KBE" Knight of the British Empire. Others awarded honorary knighthood: New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Bob Hope, Steven Spielberg, Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan and George H W Bush.
Source: Boston.com's SUSAN MILLIGAN
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