Prince William Just Gave ‘Interstellar’ Director Christopher Nolan the Recognition He Deserves

Published Dec 19, 2019

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6:15pm

Prince William had an important task to cross off his list today before he and the rest of the royal family head to Sandringham Estate for the holidays.

The 37-year-old Duke of Cambridge reported for duty at Buckingham Palace not for another pre-Christmas lunch hosted by the queen, but to bestow a great honor upon acclaimed director Christopher Nolan.

As the helmer of blockbusters like Interstellar, Inception and Dunkirk, as well as the Dark Knight Batman trilogy, there’s no denying the 49-year-old director is incredible at what he does. Now he has the official distinction to prove it.

Kensington Palace shared a photo of the Duke of Cambridge appointing Nolan a CBE, or Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Now, not only will his name have a fancy CBE after it, but he also gets to wear a rather nifty neck decoration.

The palace applauded Nolan in the post’s caption, writing, “Congratulations to Christopher Nolan CBE. The film director, screenwriter and producer was honoured today by The Duke of Cambridge for services to film.”

The caption went on to quote Nolan: “On receiving his honour, he said, ‘As a passionate advocate of film and the importance of film culturally, it is really thrilling to me that film would be honoured in this way and is considered worthy of this kind of honour. I think film is one of the great collective pastimes, one of the great art forms. It is lovely to see it accorded this kind of status.’”

As the palace points out, anyone can be nominated for an honor (is that some subtle shade being thrown at Nolan?). For those unfamiliar, his new CBE distinction is one rung below a knighthood and one above the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) honors Downton Abbey star Jim Carter and Keira Knightley previously received.

Now, it’s off to the countryside for Prince William and the gang.

Lex Goodman

Cat mom, yogi, brunch enthusiast

Lex is an LA native who's deeply obsessed with picnics, Slim Aarons, rosé, Hollywood history and Joan Didion. She joined PureWow in early 2017.

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