Professor Paul Preston
LSE’s Professor Paul Preston has been knighted in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
The Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies at LSE was recognised in the diplomatic service and overseas list for his services to UK/Spain relations.
Paul Preston is widely celebrated as a leading historian on contemporary Spain and his work is read extensively by audiences in both the UK and Spain - where it has had a large impact.
His most well-known publications include biographies of Francisco Franco and Juan Carlos and his 2012 book The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain - which has been described as a substitute for the truth and reconciliation process that Spain never had.
Professor Preston studied at Oxford and lectured at several universities before joining LSE as a Professor in International History in 1991. He has delivered guest lectures at institutions across the globe including Harvard and NYU and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2000.
In 2005 he was awarded Premi Internacional Ramon Llull, the most prestigious international prize for academic achievement given in Catalonia and in 2007 he was made ‘Caballero Gran Cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica’ - Spain's highest civilian honour - in recognition of his work on Spanish history.
Commenting on the announcement, Professor Paul Preston said: “I am deeply honoured and pleased. I feel the knighthood is a recognition of both my publications on contemporary Spain and the Cañada Blanch Centre’s extensive work to encourage the study of Spain both at LSE and more widely.”
LSE would like to congratulate all our staff, former staff and former students who were recognised in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
Alumni honoured include:
James Allan OBE, CMG, CBE, BSc Government 1956, Order of the British Empire for services to Defence
David Anderson KBE, Diploma in Social Policy and Administration 1967, Knight Commander of the British Empire for services to National Security and Civil Liberties
David Green, Diploma in Social Work Studies 1970 and Diploma in Social Administration 1976, Knight Bachelor for services to the Criminal Justice System
Jonathan Haskel CBE, MSc (Econ) Economics 1985 and MPhil/PhD Economics 1987, Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Economics
Christina McComb OBE, BA (Lang) Linguistics 1978, Order of the British Empire for services to the Economy
Sarah Mears MBE, BSc Sociology 1987, Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to Children and Young People
David Natzler KCB, MPhil 1977, Knight Commander of the Order of Bath for Parliamentary service
Jennifer Temkin CBE, LLM 1969 and LLM 1970, Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Criminal Justice