New Zealand Royal Honours System

The New Zealand Royal Honours system, a system of orders, decorations and medals, recognises achievements of, or service by, New Zealanders or others in connection with New Zealand. Until 1975 New Zealand used the British honours system. Since then the country has introduced a number of uniquely New Zealand honours, and as of 2015^[update] only the dynastic British honours continue in active use in New Zealand.

The Queen of New Zealand awards honours on ministerial advice. However, certain awards remain in the exclusive gift of the Queen.

The Honours Unit of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet administers the New Zealand honours system.

Since the beginning of settlement in the mid nineteenth century, British honours were awarded in New Zealand. In 1848, Governor George Grey received the first honour granted to a New Zealand resident, becoming a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

For more than a hundred years the British honours system was used for New Zealand. In appropriate cases, this included peerages and baronetcies.

Bernard Freyberg, although not born in New Zealand and resident outside New Zealand for a considerable portion of his life, had significant connections with New Zealand, and was ennobled while serving as Governor-General of New Zealand in 1951. The current bearer of the title, Valerian Freyberg, 3rd Baron Freyberg, is based in the United Kingdom and is one of the 92 hereditary peers elected to sit in the House of Lords.

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