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Birthday Honours 2022 Overseas and International List: notes on higher awards

Published 1 June 2022

GCMG (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George)

Sir Iain MACLEOD KCMG

Lately Legal Adviser, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Sir Iain MacLeod is recognised for a truly exceptional and sustained contribution to the international rule of law as the Legal Adviser at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office over the last decade. Sir Iain is the longest-serving holder of this position since the Second World War and is widely recognised as one of the most outstanding lawyers of his generation.

KCMG (Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George)

Dr Robin NIBLETT CMG

Director, Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs

Dr Robin Niblett is recognised for an outstanding personal contribution to British soft power and influence in his role as Director of Chatham House over the last 15 years.  With exceptional energy and talent, he has greatly enhanced the research reputation of the Institute, strengthened its international convening power, finances and staffing, and modernised its premises, image and diverse outreach.

The Honourable Anthony SMELLIE QC

Chief Justice, the Cayman Islands

The Honourable Anthony Smellie QC is recognised for his outstanding service to the Cayman Islands over the last four decades, including over 20 years as Chief Justice. The quality and impact of his legal judgments and his commitment to justice has made an exceptional contribution towards building the Cayman Island’s strong reputation for good governance as a highly respected legal jurisdiction, underpinning a major financial services centre of great importance to the local economy. His current service on the Court of Appeal of Bermuda and past service as Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions for Jamaica are also recognised.

Professor David WARRELL

Emeritus Professor of Tropical Medicine, University of Oxford

Professor David Warrell is recognised for an exceptional and sustained contribution to global health research and clinical practice. For over five decades, his research and leadership has changed the global recognition and management of many deadly tropical diseases such as snakebite, rabies and severe malaria. Through his work, Dr Warrell has saved the lives of thousands of people around the world and greatly enhanced the understanding of these diseases for future generations of tropical health researchers in the UK and beyond.

Order of the British Empire: DBE (Dame of the Order of the British Empire)

Professor Linda COLLEY CBE

Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History, Princeton University, United States of America

Professor Linda Colley is recognised for an outstanding contribution to history. ​Awarded a CBE in 2009, she has continued to produce historical works of profound political and cultural relevance, helping the understanding of Britain’s constitutional place in the world, and of constitutions more generally. In the last decade she has published two highly acclaimed books on these topics, Acts of Union and Disunion (2014) and The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World (2021), each of them a major scholarly achievement.

Knight Bachelor

Professor David MacMILLAN

Professor of Chemistry, Princeton University, United States of America

Professor David MacMillan is recognised for an exceptional and sustained contribution to chemistry and science. Based at Princeton University, his ground-breaking work on the development of organocatalysis, a method of accelerating chemical reactions and making them more efficient, was recognised in 2021 when he jointly received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside the German Chemist, Professor Benjamin List.