Queen Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales have all received senior royal honors from King Charles. Prince William becomes Great Master of the Order of the Bath, a position held by Charles when he was Prince of Wales. Catherine is now a Companion of Honor, which recognizes achievement in arts, medicine, sciences and public service. And the Queen becomes the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire, once held by the King's father, Prince Philip, and grandfather George VI. The appointments to these historic royal orders, traditionally announced on St George's Day, have rewarded those at the center of the Royal Family, at a time when both King Charles and Catherine are receiving treatment for cancer. And they will be seen as an acknowledgement of the pressure on those keeping up official duties when royal numbers are diminished, including recognizing the efforts of the Queen, who at the age of 76 has been attending events on behalf of the King. She becomes the head of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, set up in 1917 to honor a broader cross-section of civilian and military recipients, while Catherine joins a select group including Dame Shirley Bassey, Ian McEwan and Sir Elton John, as a Companion of Honor. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Gloucester, a working royal at the age of 77, becomes a member of the oldest and most senior of the orders of chivalry, the Order of the Garter, which dates back to the 14th Century. Lord Lloyd-Webber, who composed music for last year's coronation also becomes a member of the Order of the Garter — which is limited to 24 companions and is the personal gift of the monarch — along with Air Chief Marshal Lord Peach and Lord Kakkar, who has had a long career in medicine and public service. Graham Smith, of the anti-monarchy group Republic, called the honors a "slap in the face for all the hardworking people who get awarded MBEs, OBEs and CBEs". "The royals do very little in return for huge reward — but that's never enough," he said. "Instead, we see our head of state handing out trinkets and medals to his own family in an act of breathtaking nepotism." — BBC
