On Monday, June 5, 2023, Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern became a recipient of one of the country’s highest honors for her service leading New Zealand 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.
Ardern was just 37 when she became Prime Minister in 2017, and was seen as a global icon of the left.
She surprised New Zealanders in January when she said she was resigning 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.”
Chris Hipkins
Fifty-one Muslim worshippers were killed during Friday prayers in the 2019 attack at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist gunman.
Within weeks of the attack, Ardern led major changes to New Zealand’s gun laws by banning assault weapons. More than 50,000 guns were handed over to police during a subsequent buyback scheme.
Queen Camilla, Wayne Smith Honored
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 line with tradition, Britain’s Queen Camilla was given the top award by being appointed to the Order of New Zealand.
Ardern divulged that 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.
“So for me this is about my family, my colleagues and all those who supported me to do that incredibly rewarding job,” she told a news agency.
Ardern will be temporarily joining Harvard University later this year after she was appointed to dual fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School.
She will serve as the 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and a Hauser Leader in the school’s Center for Public Leadership. She has said that she sees the Harvard opportunity as a chance not only to share her experience with others, but also to learn.
“As leaders, there’s often very little time for reflection, but reflection is critical if we are to properly support the next generation of leaders,” she said.
Ardern’s time at the Cambridge, Massachusetts, university will also include a stint as the first tech governance leadership fellow at the school’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.
Additionally, the Former New Zealand Prime Minister has taken on an unpaid role to combat online extremism.
