Daniel Craig’s New Years honour is the same title held by James Bond

Daniel Craig has been named in the Queen’s New Years Honours list and has been awarded the same title as the character he is most well known for playing - James Bond.

The 53-year-old actor has been named as a companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) - which was the same title that Bond creator Ian Fleming gave to the secret agent in the original novels.

Although Craig is being given the award for his contribution to film and television the title is usually only reserved for senior diplomats and spies - hence its association with the 007 character.

As Insider reports, the Queen would have had to break Royal protocol to give Craig this gong.

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As per the Royal Family website, the CMG award recognises “service in a foreign country, or in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs, for example, the work of foreign-service officers and diplomats.”

In the fifth Bond novel, From Russia With Love, published in 1957 a spy chief says that Bond “was decorated with the CMG in 1953, an award usually given only on retirement from the Secret Service.”

This is not the only honour that Craig and Bond both hold. Last year the actor was appointed an honorary Commander by the Royal Navy. At the time he said: “I am truly privileged and honoured to be appointed the rank of Honorary Commander in the senior service.”

Craig stepped down from the Bond mantle after playing the spy in five different movies a span that stretched from 2006 to 2021. His final film in the role, No Time to Die, was released last year earning more than $700 million at the global box office despite the pandemic.