Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether a distinction is made by the Government between Commonwealth Realm Orders and decorations where Her Majesty the Queen is Sovereign of the Order and an order where the Governor General as Her Majesty the Queen's representative is the Head of the Order; whether there is a reciprocal recognition policy in place between each of the Commonwealth Realms concerning titular honours; and whether there has been any change in his Department's rules on that policy in the last two years.

The recognition of foreign honours is a matter for the Royal Prerogative and is governed by convention. The convention has not changed in the last two years. My Department does not set rules or regulations for these matters.

The main distinction between Orders of which Her Majesty The Queen is Sovereign and those where The Queen is not Sovereign is that The Queen approves and appoints recipients of all awards in the former and the recipients can apply to receive their awards at an investiture in the UK.

There is no reciprocal recognition policy in place between each of the Realms concerning honours and associated titles. Whether a title associated with an honour awarded by one Realm is recognised in a second Realm is a matter for the second Realm.