The fount of honour (Latin: fons honorum) refers to a nation's head of state, who, by virtue of his or her official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry to other persons. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The President of the United States visits the President of the Philippines. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... See also Orders of Chivalry in the British honours system After the failure of the crusades, the crusading military orders became idealized and romanticized, resulting in the late medieval notion of chivalry, as reflected in the Arthurian romances of the time. ...

Contrary to a popular myth, for a person to be made a noble or a knight does not give him or her the right to confer titles of Nobility or Orders of Chivalry to others. No person or organization, other than the head of state or head of the former rulling House, can be a fount of honour; persons and organizations other than the head of state or head of the former rulling House, may confer such honours only with the explicit permission of the fount of honour (head of state). For example, in the United Kingdom, where the fount of honour is the Monarch (the King or Queen), some societies have permissions from the Monarch to award medals, but these are to be worn on the right side of the chest. In France, however, non-government orders and medals are not allowed to be worn at all.

See also

• British honours system