The order's rules, called "statutes", say that the Order can only have 100 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8960 Commanders, but there is no limit to the number of members of the Officers and Members but no more than 858 Officers and 1464 Members may be appointed per year. Appointments are made on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms.
Some jobs are usually rewarded with the Order. Usually female judges of the High Court of England and Wales are created Dames Commander after appointment. Male judges are not, because they are usually made Knights Bachelor instead.
Like the orders of chivalry, this order has six officials:
Anyone who behaves in a way that might bring the order into disrepute, may have his or her award taken away.
John Lennon once criticised military membership in the order, saying:
"Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war - for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I'd say we deserve ours more."
Slavníč
Slavníč is a small village in the Havlíčkův Brod District, Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic by Highway D1. 40 people live in Slavníč. It covers 2,13 km². It was first documented in 1305.
Milan Nakonečný
Milan Nakonečný (* February 8, 1932, Horažďovice) is a Czech psychologist (professor of psychology) and historian. During the so-called normalization era in the Czechoslovakia, communists banned him from teaching and publishing books.
Skorkov
Skorkov is small village near in the Havlíčkův Brod District, Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 77. It covers 6.2 km².
Antonín Klimek
Antonín Klimek (January 18, 1937 in Prague – January 9, 2005 in Prague) was a Czech historian. He wrote mainly about the Czechoslovakian First Republic.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Japanese: "新世紀エヴァンゲリオン" Hepburn: "Shin Seiki Evangelion") is a Japanese anime series directed by Hideaki Anno, and produced by Gainax and Tatsunoko Production. It is set 15 years after a world-wide disaster. The main characters are teenagers that pilot giant robots called "Evangelions" to fight giant monsters called "angels". The imagery is inspired by Christianity and Judaism, depression, and philosophy. The show was liked by critics, but the ending made many fans angry. The film "End of Evangelion" was released in 1997, acts as a different version of the show's ending. Other related media, including several manga, soundtracks, and the "Rebuild of Evangelion" film series.
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (born Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of the United Kingdom, from 20 January 1936 until 11 December 1936. He was born at White Lodge, Richmond Park in London.
Edward abdicated (resigned) from the throne, because he wanted to marry the American woman Wallis Simpson. Simpson had been married twice before. As King, he was Head of the Church of England, and the Church did not support divorce. After abdicating as king, he was known as His Royal Highness the Duke of Windsor. His wife was not allowed to be called "Her Royal Highness".
Edward, commonly known as David, was born as the first son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, (later King George V and Queen Mary). As a young man he disliked his royal duties, but he possessed charisma and was popular with the British people. Edward was officially invested as Prince of Wales in a ceremony at Caernarvon Castle on 13 July 1911 and was even tutored by furture Prime Minister David Lloyd George to speak a few words of Welsh.
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Edward, age twenty was keen to participate. He witnessed trench warfare at first-hand and attempted to visit the front line as often as possible, although he did not experience as much hardship and misery as ordinary British soldiers. Edward undertook a military flight in 1918 and gained a pilot's licence later. Throughout the 1920s Edward represented his father, King George V, at home and abroad on many occasions. His popularity was at its greatest peak within this decade and gained him much public and media attention.
However, his increasing womanising and reckless behaviour during the 1920s and 1930s worried Prime Minister Baldwin and his hard working, strict father King George V. Edward was also uninterested with royal duties and disliked the British establishment. George V was disappointed by Edward's failure to settle down in life and was furious with his many affairs with married women, and was reluctant to see him inherit the Crown. George V favoured his son Albert (later King George VI) who was a family man and loyal to his beloved wife.
Edward had a string of relationships with married women including Freda Dudley Ward, and Lady Furness, the American wife of a British peer, who later introduced him to Wallis Simpson. Wallis Simpson was an American who had been twice divorced. Edward later became Wallis Simpson's lover. This further weakened his poor relationship with his father who stated "After I am dead," George said, "the boy will ruin himself in 12 months". Indeed he was right. Less than a year later Edward would cause great damage over the royal family of the sort not seen previously for hundreds of years.
After months of ill health, King George V died on 20 January 1936, and Edward became King Edward VIII. He watched the announcement of his new role from a window of St James's Palace with Wallis Simpson. After only a few weeks, Edward began to cause unease in government circles with actions that were seen as too political. He did not work hard as King and was not careful about important state papers. Far from working, in August and September, Edward and his lover Wallis Simpson simply sailed around the Mediterranean on a luxury steam yacht.
On 16 November 1936, Edward invited British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin to Buckingham Palace and expressed his plans to marry Wallis Simpson after her divorce. Baldwin was unhappy about this and informed him that his subjects would see it as morally unacceptable, because remarriage after divorce was opposed by the Church of England, and the people did not like Wallis. Edward knew that the government and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead. That action could have led to a general election and would ruin Edward's status as a politically neutral monarch. This would be disastrous for the Royal Family and damage the nation. As a result he chose to abdicate in December of that year and married Wallis later in 1937. His brother, Prince Albert, Duke of York, became the next king.
After his abdication, he was given the title Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937. His brother and mother did not attend the ceremony. Many people became alarmed with what they thought was Edward's pro German stance. Some even said that he favoured German fascism. Hitler considered Edward to be friendly towards Nazi Germany. Even in the 1960s, Edward privately said to a friend, Lord Kinross, "I never thought Hitler was such a bad chap". The Duke and Duchess visited Nazi Germany, against the advice of the British government, and they met Adolf Hitler at his private retreat. During the visit, the Duke gave full Nazi salutes, causing anger in Britain. At the start of the Second World War, the Nazis plotted to persuade the Duke to support the Nazi effort and planned to kidnap him. Lord Caldecote warned Winston Churchill that "[the Duke] is well-known to be pro-Nazi and he may become a centre of intrigue". More problems arose when Edward gave a "defeatist" interview, which angered Churchill even more.