Will Queen deny Tony Blair Order of the Garter?

Financially Tony Blair has done very well for himself since leaving Downing Street - some reports claim he has enriched himself by as much as £12m - but one post-Prime Ministerial perk could prove beyond his grasp. According to the Sunday Telegraph, his chances of being admitted into the ancient Order of the Garter, an honour conferred on most ex-PMs, are looking increasingly slim.

The Garter, the first and most prestigious British order of chivalry, is in the gift of the Queen alone. Because of this Her Majesty is incredibly protective about who gets it, and Blair , because of Iraq and the current financial crisis in the UK, would be a questionable beneficiary.

There are no more than 24 Knights and Ladies Companion. Lady Thatcher was admitted in 1995 and Sir John Major, somewhat belatedly, in 2005. "I wouldn't put money on him getting it," says Kenneth Rose, the royal historian who has close links to Buckingham Palace. "Former prime ministers are normally admitted, but they should not take it for granted. The Queen is always mindful of the public mood."

But Hugo Vickers, the author of Royal Orders, feels HMQ could come up with a solution - fobbing Blair off with the Order of the Thistle, a somewhat less exalted gong. He says: "I have often felt Mr Blair is more in the class of, say, Robert Menzies and David Steel, who both received the Thistle, rather than, say, Churchill and Thatcher, who got the Garter." ·