Yesterday, Irish actor and director Kenneth Branagh, who in our younger years was pretty much synonymous with William Shakespeare, was knighted by the Queen of England for “services to drama and the community of Northern Ireland, joining the ranks of fellow knighted thespians like Laurence Olivier, Ben Kingsley, and Michael Caine.” Well, it’s about time! Maybe. We’re not sure exactly how knighting works. “It’s been a hell of a year for the UK and I feel very honoured to be a tiny part of this part of it,” Branagh said. The honor comes more than 30 years after the Queen first saw Sir Kenneth perform, as a 19-year-old Hamlet at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1980. We think we can all agree that — at least as far as actors’ knighthoods go — it’s very well deserved. [via Gawker]