A Knight to Remember

The Mother Country, England that is…decided it was time to honor a great American. Microsoft Chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates received an honorary Knighthood this morning in Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth awarded Gates the title “Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire”. Earlier today I was telling a friend of mine about Gates’ great honor.
He said: So why should I care?…is my computer still going to freeze when I run two programs at once?
Tony: Well I guess so… He’s only a Knight you know… not a Prince.
Friend: They’re not going to dress him up in a suit of armor and parade him around on a white horse are they?
Tony: No…England is in the modern times now…They’ve got “fish and chips”, beer, lipitor…you name it.
Friend: A President?
Tony: No.
Friend: What do we call Mr. Gates now that he's a Knight?
Tony: It could be one of a several titles…"William Gates CEO, KBE Zillionaire" or "Sir William Gates Zillionaire" or maybe just plain old "Knight Bill Zillionaire".
Friend: Is “zillionaire” officially part of the English title?
Tony: No…that’s the American part. On second thought…Bill is not really a "Sir". They only give that title to English citizens like Paul McCartney…
Friend: He’s not going to perform at the Super Bowl next year is he?
Tony: Of course not!… I heard that during the ceremony Gates (KBE) kneeled before the Queen and said the famous motto of the order of chivalry…“For God and Empire”.
Friend: I thought “Microsoft” was the Empire
Tony: Yeah, right…I guess that's true…the sun never sets on Microsoft does it.
Friend: If I were Bill Gates, CEO of the largest most influential computer company in the world, I would have refused the Knighthood.
Tony: Why?
Friend: Well… I hear the Queen still has trouble playing Pong on Prince Charles’s Atari.
Tony: Did you eat yet? How about some crumpets and tea?
Friend: You pay…I’m no Zillionarie nor Knight for that matter.
I've got to get new friends!