Jacinda Ardern given a top New Zealand honor for her service during shooting, pandemic
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Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday received one of New Zealand's highest honors for her service leading the country through a mass shooting and pandemic. Ardern was made a Dame Grand Companion, the second-highest honor in New Zealand, as part of King Charles III's Birthday Honors. It means people will now call her Dame Jacinda.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday received one of New Zealand's highest honors for her service leading the country through a mass shooting and pandemic.
Ardern was made a Dame Grand Companion, the second-highest honor in New Zealand, as part of King Charles III's Birthday Honors. It means people will now call her Dame Jacinda. Royal honorees are typically chosen twice a year in New Zealand by the prime minister and signed off by Charles, the British king who is also recognized as New Zealand's king.
She shocked New Zealanders in January when she said she was stepping down as leader after more than five years because she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do it justice.
She was facing mounting political pressures at home, including for her handling of COVID-19, which was initially widely lauded but later criticized by those opposed to mandates and rules.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who succeeded Ardern, said she was being recognized for her service during "some of the greatest challenges our country has faced in modern times.”
“Leading New Zealand’s response to the 2019 terrorist attacks and to the COVID-19 pandemic represented periods of intense challenge for our 40th prime minister, during which time I saw firsthand that her commitment to New Zealand remained absolute," Hipkins said in a statement.
Fifty-one Muslim worshippers were killed during Friday prayers in the 2019 attack at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist gunman.
Ardern said she was in two minds about whether to accept the award because much of what she was being recognized for were experiences that were collective to all New Zealanders.
Also recognized in the King's Birthday Honors list was rugby coach Wayne Smith, who helped lead both men's and women's rugby teams representing New Zealand to World Cup victories.
In keeping with tradition, Britain's Queen Camilla was given the top award by being appointed to the Order of New Zealand.
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