The Chairman of the Robert Burns International Foundation, owner of EDMF Language Services Kft. and long-term Hungary resident Douglas Arnott has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the UK’s New Year’s Honours for services to charity and UK-Hungary relations.
The list of recipients is announced every year at the end of December. This year the British Empire Medal was awarded to a total of 358 people. Apart from those living in the British Isles only four people received this prominent award, including Douglas, who has been working at the RBIF helping sick and underprivileged children for seven years, five of which as Chairman.
Proficient in four languages, including Hungarian, Douglas graduated from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland with an honours degree in translation and interpreting, before settling in Hungary and establishing EDMF. For more than seven years he has been involved in the RBIF’s charitable activities, for which he was recognised with a BEM in the New Year’s Honours List.
The announcement of the award at the end of last year will be followed by the medal presentation this year along with a garden party at Buckingham Palace for the award winners.
About the British Empire Medal:
This high-level honour was established in 1917 as part of the Order of the British Empire and is awarded for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Queen. Between 1993 and 2012 the BEM was not awarded to subjects of the United Kingdom, although it continued to be presented in some Commonwealth countries. The awarding of the British Empire Medal to subjects of the United Kingdom was resumed in 2012 to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The final decision on the medal awards is made by Queen Elisabeth II herself.