The Governor-General, the Hon Anand Satyanand, will be presented with the Badge of the Queens' Service Order on Monday 20 August 2007.
The Badge will be presented by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Helen Clark, in Cabinet Committee Room 8.4 in the Beehive at the conclusion of the meeting of the Executive Council, which starts at 3pm.
The awarding of the QSO to the Governor-General follows the approval in May of a new Royal Warrant for the Queens' Service Order and the associated Queens' Service Medal. The new Warrant removed the subdivisions for community service and public service for the awarding of either the Order or the Medal.
Under the old Royal Warrant, the Governor-General was ex-officio Principal Companion of the Order, but was not a member of the Order. The new Royal Warrant provided for the appointment of a Governor-General to be a Companion of the Order in his or her own right.
As a consequence of this change, The Queen also approved the appointment of the Governor-General to be an Additional Companion of The Queens' Service Order.