Linda Colley (History) was honored by Queen Elizabeth II and named Dame of the Order of the British Empire. Her title was announced by the queen as part of her Platinum Jubilee and annual Birthday Honours Lists, in which men and women from various walks of life are named knights and dames or given the government’s highest awards.
Colley, the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History, was recognized for “an outstanding contribution to history … [producing] historical works of profound political and cultural relevance,” including the acclaimed books, “Acts of Union and Disunion” (2014) and “The Gun, the Ship and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World” (2021).
Colley was born in Chester, England, and joined the Princeton faculty in 2003. She was previously honored by the queen with a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2009. She is currently researching English historian and member of Parliament Edward Gibbon and his six-volume “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” (1776-1788) in the context of global history.
“I was delighted to get the news, of course, but also delighted that the humanities had been recognized in the list as well as the sciences. History matters,” Colley said, in an announcement on the University homepage.
Fellow Princeton University professor David MacMillan (Chemistry) was also honored, and named Knight Bachelor. Among this year’s other honorees for the queen’s birthday and Platinum Jubilee are author Sir Salman Rushdie, illustrator Sir Quentin Blake, fashion designer Stella McCartney and actor Damian Lewis.
