Well now, it seems that if you are a Brit and work for a high profile company such as Apple, you get considered for a prestigious gong with a nice little title attached, because in this year’s New Years Honours list, the head of design at Apple was awarded a KBE, Knight Commander of the British Empire.

According to an article over on the BBC, Chingford born Jonathan can now be know as Sir Jonathan Ive, with Ive commenting that the honour is “absolutely thrilling,” and that he is “both humbled and sincerely grateful.”

Sir Jonathan was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire “For services to design and enterprise,” and is the second time Ive has been recognised in the New Years Honours list, back in 2005; Ive was awarded the CBE, Commander of the British Empire.

Commenting on the award, Sir Jonathan said, “I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making, and I discovered at an early age that all I’ve ever wanted to do is design.”

Ive studied design at Northumbria University, formally Northumbria Polytechnic, and on graduation began work as a commercial designed then along with three friends founded design agency Tangerine, of which one client was Apple and they were impressed with some work Ive did on a notebook that they offered him employment.

And well the rest is history, with Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson claiming that Steve Jobs described Jonathan Ive as his “spiritual partner.”

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