JK Rowling refused a peerage in the House of Lords twice

JK Rowling has revealed that she has turned down two offers of a peerage in the House of Lords and would turn down a third.

The author’s comments came after Conservative Party leader hopeful Kemi Badenoch said she would give Rowling a peerage for her stance on gender – a stance critics described as transphobic.

The Harry Potter author said in a post on

Most peers sitting in the House of Lords are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister, with appointments scrutinized by the House of Lords Appointments Committee.

Badenoch praised Rowling in an interview with online streaming service Talk TV, saying they both believe protections for women should be based not on self-identified gender but rather on biological sex.

The North West Essex MP said of Rowling: “I don’t know if she would accept it, but I would certainly give her a peerage.”

The former Equality Minister praised Baroness Cass for her review of NHS children’s gender services – work for which Badenoch “got” a peerage for the doctor.

Writing in X, Rowling said: “It is considered rude to talk about this, but I will make an exception given the very particular circumstances.

“I’ve already turned down a peerage twice, once under the Labor Party and once under the Conservative Party. If it were offered to me a third time, I still wouldn’t take it.”

She said, in an apparent reference to Badenoch: “It’s not her, it’s me.”

Rowling received an OBE in 2001 and was named a Companion of Honor in 2017 by Prince William, then the Duke of Cambridge, for her work.

Although the precise dates when the author received both peerages are unclear, the first would have occurred in the New Labor years, when Rowling was still writing the Harry Potter series.

The last book in Rowling’s best-selling wizard series was published in 2007. Since then, she has written articles, plays and a series of adult crime books under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

The detective series, known collectively by the title Cormoran Strike, was published throughout the 2010s – during which time Rowling was likely offered a second peerage.

If she had taken a seat in the House of Lords, the author would probably have received the title of Baroness Rowling – and if she had found time to attend the sessions, she would have had a say in the work of the second chamber of Parliament, considering bills and potentially participate in select committees.

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