Ace fashion designer, Ralph Lauren, who is known for creating the ‘Polo Sports’ brand, has become the first American fashion designer to be recognized with an honorary British knighthood.
The honorary insignia will be bestowed upon the businessman and philanthropist by a representative of the Queen during a ceremony next year.
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“Mr. Lauren has played a key role in forging transatlantic cultural and economic connections,” said Antony Phillipson, British Consul General to New York and Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for North America. “As creator and visionary of the Ralph Lauren brand worldwide, he has been a vanguard for the global fashion industry and American style for nearly half a century. In addition, monumental philanthropic efforts, especially in the realm of public health, cancer research, and treatment in both the US and the UK, have led to benefits felt by citizens around the world.â€
Celebrating the 50th year of his brand this year, Ralph Lauren’s new status includes him in the list of other American recipients of UK knighthoods or damehoods such as former Presidents Dwight D Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and George HW Bush, former New York City Mayors Michael Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani, Angelina Jolie, Steven Spielberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Angela Ahrendts.
