NEW YORK – Mayor Rudolph Giuliani received an honorary knighthood Monday from Queen Elizabeth II for his “outstanding help and support to the bereaved British families in New York.” The mayor was named Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He does not get the right to call himself “Sir Rudolph,” but he can put the initials “K.B.E.” after his name, according to the British Consulate General.
When he was asked if he would like to be called “Sir Rudolph” anyway, the mayor said, “Just call me Rudy. I always like that.”
The queen also conferred honorary titles — Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire — on the city’s police and fire commissioners for their service after the leveling of the World Trade Center. Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen may now use the initials “C.B.E.”
The titles were announced by the queen’s son, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, during a visit to City Hall. They are to be conferred in person by the queen at Buckingham Palace and the mayor, who rarely leaves New York, was asked if he would go to London. “I may make an exception,” he said.
British Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer read a statement from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said Giuliani “provided heroic leadership of the City of New York in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.”
