Knight Fever: Difference between revisions

* Sell ''a lot'' of computer programs, in the case of William S. Gates III, OBE, former CEO of Microsoft.

* Give the government or governing party a lot of money. Baronetcies were originally always purchased. Even without direct payment, rich people were always more likely to receive any honour, partly because some honours required the holder to live in a certain way (knights, for instance, were originally military officers who had to afford a horse, armor, grooms, servants, etc.) and because poor people wouldn't be able to do any of the things that would bring them to the sovereign's attention. (To be fair, they wouldn't likely be interested in doing any of those things either, since the attitude of the poor of the time was that it was best to keep one's head down and not be noticed.) Officially the grant of titles or honours in exchange for donations to the government, political parties or individuals has been illegal since the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925, which was introduced after a major scandal involving the near-open sale of titles by [[David Lloyd George]]'s Liberal administration. However, there have been strong public and media suspicions about the number of party donors who have been granted honours by both Labour and Conservative governments in the last thirty years or so. Pissing away vast quantities of money, oddly enough, can work (Sir Fred Goodwin), [http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/goodwin-knighthood-decision but only temporarily.]

* Have an ancestor who signed on with the right faction in a [[Succession Crisis]].

* Have an ancestor who was a rich commoner when there were [[Wars of the Roses|no nobles left alive]] to compete for disputed estates.