, Lord Tweedsmuir, as
Governor General of Canada, wearing the Order of the Companions of Honour badge around his neck The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who is the Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside the Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into a single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or
precedence, those inducted into the order are entitled to use the
post-nominal letters CH. Appointments to the order are generally made on the advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the
United Kingdom, seven for
Australia, two each for
New Zealand and
South Africa, and nine for
India,
Burma, and the other
British colonies. The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for the United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven. Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the
Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped the allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member,
Doug Anthony, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed: Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa, a New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author
Margaret Atwood was given the award in 2019.
Lord Coe represented the Order at the
2023 Coronation. ==Insignia==