Stephen Sutton, the terminally ill cancer sufferer who’s ‘bucket list’ fundraiser has now topped £3.1m may be Knighted by the Queen. The gravely ill 19 year old made an appeal for donations to the Teenage Cancer Trust, from what he thought was his death bed.
However as money and prayers from across the world poured in Mr Sutton made a remarkable recovery. He remains terminally ill but his condition has improved to such an extent that he has now left hospital.
Two weeks ago Breitbart London learned exclusively that there were moves in Westminster to Knight the teenager, making him ‘Sir Stephen Sutton’. However, given the seriousness of his condition we chose not to publish at that time.
Knighthoods are awarded to people who have made significant contributions to British life. The list of Knights ranges from celebrities such as Sir Elton John to the inventor of the internet Sir Tim Berners-Lee and former Prime Ministers like Sir John Major.
Many well-known American politicians have also been knighted, but in line with the U.S. constitution they do not style themselves “Sir”, an example is Caspar Weinberger GBE.
Breitbart London spoke to a number of senior figures in the British hierarchy. One Officer of the Order of the British Empire said: “Stephen’s charitable fundraising easily qualifies him for a Knighthood, the problem is they normally only award them twice a year.
“Special arrangements can be made outside normal time but that sort of thing is very rare. In my view, he may be recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours but given his vulnerable health we just do not know how things will play out.”
A Member of Parliament told Breitbart London: “Everyone is up for this, but we don’t want to put pressure on right now. Stephen is a legend but this is still a delicate subject.”
The Queen’s Birthday Honours list will be published in the London Gazette on 14th June, but Knighthoods cannot be bestowed posthumously.
Stephen Sutton’s case has been significantly enhanced by a Prime Ministerial visit yesterday and an online petition to Knight him.
Although HM The Queen is perfectly entitled to knight anyone at any time the Royal Household is notoriously reticent to break standard procedure. Courtiers remain worried that if they make a break once it will set a precedence to do it all the time. As a result protocol is only broken on extraordinary occasions.
As an example: in the history of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, the band has only ever played a foreign National Anthem once: they played the American anthem on 12th September 2001. The flag has only been at half-mast once, when Diana died.
Follow Andre Walker on Twitter: @AndreJPWalker
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