Following her acceptance of the royal accolade, Winslet gushed: "The sense of gravity is enormous and you very much feel you are being acknowledged by the whole country in a way."
So we take a look at less forthcoming stars who have shunned such British honours - from Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French declining an OBE, to Alfred Hitchcock snubbing a CBE but later accepting a knighthood.
Alfred Hitchcock rejected a CBE in 1962 but accepted a knighthood from the Queen shortly before his death in 1980.
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