He was the guest of Morocco's King Mohammed VI, who bestowed the prestigious L'Etoile d'Or national honour on him - the first Indian to be granted the accolade.
She is the first English author granted the accolade and a worthy recipient: lucid and closely observed, like her novels, her short stories are rich and vivid.
I was there with his widow, and we wondered if he'd have been granted that accolade had he not died, as he's not to everybody's taste.
He is not the most reliable goal-kicker on the planet (his own England head coach Stuart Lancaster granted that accolade to Wales's Leigh Halfpenny this week) but he knows it and has been working in training with the past master Jonny Wilkinson's favoured guru, Dave Alred to put it right.
When are we going to see similar accolades granted to Deborah Coleman, Chris Thomas, Queen Esther, Alvin Hart, Theodis Ealey, Lady Bianca and other inventive modern musicians who are part of a living African-American blues culture?
If he had gone on to describe the more recent history of the music he might have been forced to deal with an unpleasant aspect of contemporary jazz, namely the bitter frustration of many musicians who, having devoted their lives to a discipline which grants them shrinking accolades and work opportunities in the United States, have become disgruntled.
In fact, the only ones to have been granted that highest of accolades were Mary Washington and Nefertiti.
Still, recognition came late: only in 1992 did the Mystery Writers of America grant him its highest accolade, the Grand Master Edgar.
Those newspapers that advocated a remain vote in the EU referendum - Times, Guardian, Financial Times, Independent and Daily Mirror - were unwilling to grant the speech any such accolades.
Granted, it's not an accolade that will mean much to the Swiss, particularly with the wounds from yesterday's mauling still fresh.
She appeals to a broad readership, has landed on the New York Times best-seller list and has been nominated three times for the National Book Award, along with earning many grants and other accolades.
