Angelina Jolie Made 'Honorary Dame' by Queen Elizabeth II
Angelina Jolie is already Hollywood royalty, but now she has a special title in Britain as well.
The 39-year-old actress and humanitarian has been made an honorary dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to U.K. foreign policy and the campaign to end war zone sexual violence.
Her Majesty, 88, presented Jolie with the insignia of an Honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George at Buckingham Palace on Friday.
The swearing in took place in the Palace's 1844 room during a private ceremony. Angelina's husband, Brad Pitt, 50, and their six children — Maddox, 13, Pax, 10, Zahara, 9, Shiloh, 8, and 6-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox — were on hand for the special occasion.The Jolie-Pitts were there for about 20 minutes with most of the time taken up by the presentation and a following conversation the queen had with Jolie, per British media reports.
So what do you wear when you become an honorary dame? According to Women's Wear Daily, Jolie's dove grey suit is Ralph & Russo (she stunned in a dress from the same fashion house at Pitt's World War Z Berlin premiere last year).
Angelina is a special envoy for the U.N High Commissioner for Refugees and co-founded the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) in 2012 with U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague. The award was first announced in June when Jolie and Hague co-chaired the End Sexual Violence in Conflict global summit in London.
"To receive an honor related to foreign policy means a great deal to me, as it is what I wish to dedicate my working life to. Working on PSVI and with survivors of rape is an honor in itself," the Maleficent actress said at the time. "I know that succeeding in our goals will take a lifetime, and I am dedicated to it for all of mine."
Jolie also received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Motion Picture Academy last year for her tireless work. She was the youngest ever honoree.
In an interview with French Marie Claire, Angelina recently opened up about how her late mother Marcheline Bertrand — who passed away in 2007 after a long battle with ovarian cancer at the age of 56 — impacted her own humanitarian work.
"She was very soft but could move mountains for her kids," Jolie explained. "That's something I always admire in women: that mix of softness and strength. She was half Indian, and I remember that as a small girl, she took me to a dinner for Amnesty International… She always tried to understand the complexity of the world. She had a great heart, which was sensitive to the world's violence."