Many people have been created honorary knights or dames by theBritish crown. There are also those that have been appointed to two comparable orders, the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour, and those that have had conferred on them the decoration of the Royal Victorian Chain; none of these carries pre-nominal styles.

An honorary award is one made to a person who is not a citizen of aCommonwealth realm. He or she cannot use thepre-nominal style of 'Sir' or 'Dame', but can use thepost-nominal letters (after their names), subject to the prevailing conventions in his or her own country. If such a person later acquires citizenship of a Commonwealth realm, then any honorary awards usually become substantive, and in the case of knights and dames they can begin to use the pre-nominal styles. However this is not automatic. The person must be dubbed by the King or his delegate in order to be entitled to use thepre-nominal style. If the knighthood is in an order which has a special class for honorary knighthoods, a change to a regular class of knighthoods is also required.

Citizens of a country which was a full part of the British Empire or Commonwealth when they received the honour (i.e. who were British subjects at the time), were substantive knights or dames, not honorary. The knighthood does not become honorary, and the person may choose to use his or her title(s), after their country becomes a republic. Citizens of British protectorates and mandated territories usually received honorary awards. Notable exceptions were rulers of the Indian princely states and their subjects, who werede jure British protected persons and not British subjects, but who received substantive knighthoods.

In certain circumstances, an honorary award may be annulled (i.e. revoked). The effect is that, officially, the person is considered never to have been given the award, their name is erased from the order's register, and they are required to return all insignia. This happens when the Sovereign issues a signed and sealed ordinance cancelling and annulling the appointment. This is not common and in practice only occurs where the recipient has engaged in serious detrimental activities, e.g. following a conviction for serious crimes, or for hostile acts against the United Kingdom. In even rarer circumstances, an annulled award may later be restored by the Sovereign. Details of known annulments and restorations are annotated in the table below.

The Order of the Garter uses terminology different from that of most other British orders. 'Stranger/Extra Knights Companion of the Garter' and 'Stranger/Extra Ladies Companion of the Order of the Garter' are the equivalent of 'Honorary Knights' and 'Honorary Dames' in other orders. As with other orders, the pre-nominal styles 'Sir' and 'Lady' are not used by Extra Knights and Extra Ladies. Revoked appointments are said to be 'degraded' rather than 'annulled'; the effect, however, is the same.