Arise, Sir Jony of Apple

CUPERTINO, Calif. (TheStreet) -- Apple (AAPL) design guru Jonathan 'Jony' Ive's status as Silicon Valley royalty was confirmed last week when the Brit was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's New Year's honors list.

Ive, who serves as Apple's senior vice president for industrial design, joined the tech giant in 1996, helping create design classics such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. Widely acknowledged as one of the technology sector's biggest hitters, Ive has been awarded the honor for "services to design and enterprise."

Apple design guru Jonathan Ive has been awarded a knighthood.

Ive, a graduate of Newcastle Polytechnic in the north of England, has been showered with awards in recent years. In 2003, he was named designer of the year by the Design Museum in London and was also named Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts.

The Londoner is also no stranger to Buckingham Palace. In the 2006 New Year honors list, for example, Ive was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), also for services to design.

The knighthood, which will be bestowed later this year, cements Ive's status in the pantheon of British technology greats. The Apple executive follows in the footsteps of Internet pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004.

In 2008, the Daily Telegraph newspaper named Ive the most influential Briton in America, ahead of architect Norman Foster, film director Sir Ridley Scott and Sony (SNE) CEO Sir Howard Stringer.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

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