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Originally Posted by RWill2073
My fault. I assumed it was mainly the royal family deciding that stuff.
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There are many misconceptions about the British monarchy, and no she/ they don't chose who the recipients are except in very, very exceptional cases. And contrary to the myths about her, Mrs Queen also sits on the throne just like us, and possibly takes a magazine with her to read in the little room while contemplating her navel.
In truth, the Monarchy have virtually no power whatsoever, and are mainly decorative. They are very good at shaking hands with people whom they are likely to never meet again, and Brenda, Mrs Queen, signs a lot of papers from the elected government that are put in front of her - well, delivered to her daily in a red briefcase (just like all the ministers in the government who carry all their official stuff in red briefcases called Red Boxes).
And contrary to popular opinion, the Royals no longer get paid by the British taxpayers; well, certainly not in a direct fashion. They are paid a fixed percentage of the taxed income generated by their estates and businesses, most of which are very profitable. So for example, the more visitors that go to Buck House, so the Royals get paid more. However, it must be noted that in the last audited figures for 2015, the Royals had a really successful year and so received a bumper pay-out, some of which was actually returned unspent to the Treasury at the year end.