Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Bill Gates, founder of the software giant Microsoft, has been made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in recognition of his business skills and work on poverty reduction. He received the title on Wednesday, March 2, at a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth.

Now at age 48, Bill Gates is the world's wealthiest man, according to Forbes Magazine. Bill Gates rose to fame in the early nineties as the CEO of Microsoft, the maker of Microsoft Windows 95, the world's best selling computer operating system at the time.

Though Mr. Gates has now been knighted, he cannot use the term Sir since he is not a citizen of the United Kingdom. He can instead place the letters KBE after his name. If he chooses to become a subject of the Queen in the future, he can have his title upgraded to Sir.