Gen. Schwarzkopf, Sir, Is Knighted by Queen

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, America’s Gulf War hero, formally became Britain’s as well Monday when Queen Elizabeth II bestowed an honorary knighthood on him.

“It was marvelous. She is a lovely lady. She just said: ‘I would like to present you with this medal,’ ” the commander of Operation Desert Storm said after the private ceremony. “I think they go out of their way to make sure people like me don’t get nervous.”

The royal entourage later flew to Texas.

Schwarzkopf was given a crimson-ribboned, two-cross medallion in his MacDill Air Force Base office. He later beamed through drizzling rain as he displayed it on the steps of the U.S. Central Command headquarters.

The four-star general is now Honorary Knight Commander in the Military Division of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath. He is the 58th American since World War II to receive an honorary knighthood, which entitles him to use the initials “KCB” after his name but not the title “sir.” That is reserved for Britons only.

“I don’t think anybody is going to call me ‘Sir Norman.’ A few people may call me ‘general, sir,’ ” Schwarzkopf quipped.

The knighting capped a two-hour tour of the city by the 65-year-old queen, her husband, Prince Philip, and a royal entourage.

The royal couple sailed into Tampa from Miami aboard the royal yacht Britannia and were greeted at Harbour Island by 200 schoolchildren singing “We Are the World.”

The queen greeted an invitation-only gathering of 500, including British expatriates, at a downtown pedestrian mall.

At a University of Tampa reception, local political, civic and religious dignitaries were on hand when Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman presented the monarch with an 18-inch crystal palm tree.

In Texas, the queen will spend three days visiting Austin, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston. After her arrival Monday afternoon in Austin, she praised the state’s colorful history and Texans’ pride.

“No state commands such fierce pride and loyalty. Lesser mortals are pitied for their misfortune in not being born Texans,” she told a cheering crowd of several thousand who had waited for hours on the Capitol lawn.