Daniel Craig has been awarded one of the highest royal honours – the same one held by the character he is most well-known for playing: James Bond.
Craig was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
In Ian Fleming’s Bond novel, From Russia With Love, a Soviet spy chief notes that 007 received the honour in 1953, and that it’s “an award usually given only on retirement from the Secret Service”.
Outside of fiction, spies aren’t the only recipients of the honour, with diplomats and Brits working overseas also receiving it in recognition of their services to the UK “internationally”.
Craig, who holds citizenship in the US and is listed on the Investiture roll as being from New York, received the CMG in recognition of his service to film and theatre in the 2022 New Year Honours.
We’ve been expecting you…
🎖️The Princess Royal presents Daniel Craig with The Order of St Michael and St George – the same honour held by his character James Bond – in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film and theatre. pic.twitter.com/X20TP6BogL
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 18, 2022
He was presented with the medal during Tuesday’s ceremony by Princess Anne, with the royal family sharing a photo of the pair on social media with the playful caption, “We’ve been expecting you”.
After 15 years, Craig ended his time as the martini-slinging spy in 2021, starring in the film No Time To Die.
As for who will take the reins after Craig, Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson told Empire that No Time To Die wasn’t the end of the story for 007 – but it could take some time to find the actor’s replacement.
“When you change the actor you have to reimagine the direction the film’s gonna go in. When you hire an actor, you’re hoping you’re going to spend a decade at least with them and make four or five or six films with them,” Broccoli said.
“It’s not just flicking through Spotlight and saying, ‘Oh, there’s a guy who’s 6’1″‘ We’re going to take our time. We want to get a sense of where we want to go with the series and we want to do that before we bring anybody else on.”
Image: @RoyalFamily (Twitter)
This article first appeared on OverSixty.