Stuart Hogg 'erased' from honours list by order of the King

Disgraced former Scotland captain Stuart Hogg has been stripped of his MBE after a formal order from King Charles.

The King also directed that his name be removed from the official honours register.

The decision was confirmed in a notice published in the official Gazette, the UK’s public record of state appointments and honours.

The award given to the Montpellier star in the 2024 New Year Honours has now been formally revoked.

The notice reads: “The King has directed that the appointment of Stuart William Hogg to be a Member of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 30 December 2023 shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order.”

Hogg had received the honour for services to rugby union following a decorated career for Scotland and the British and Irish Lions.

His very public fall from grace has now, it seems, resulted in decision from the palace, with decision to remove the award coming off the back of his conviction relating to domestic abuse offences involving his estranged wife.

The former Glasgow Warrior and Exeter Chiefs star pleaded guilty in November 2024 to a single charge of domestic abuse under the Domestic Abuse Act at Selkirk Sheriff Court. The charge related to behaviour that took place between 2019 and 2024 and included shouting and swearing, sending large volumes of distressing messages and tracking his partner’s movements.

In January 2025 he was sentenced to a community payback order with one year of supervision as an alternative to custody. The court also imposed a five-year non-harassment order preventing him from contacting the victim.

The conviction prompted calls for his state honour to be removed.

Hogg, who won 100 caps for Scotland and toured twice with the British and Irish Lions, had been one of the most decorated Scottish players of his generation.

The 33-year-old was named Six Nations Player of the Championship in both 2016 and 2017. He left Glasgow in 2019 for Exeter Chiefs before later playing in France after bizarrely retiring the eve of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The Gazette notice now confirms that the honour awarded just over two years ago has been formally cancelled, with Hogg’s name ‘erased’ from the register of the Order of the British Empire.

Hogg has re-established his career relatively successfully in the south of France. The Melrose-born playmaker has played most of this and last season at 10 for MHR, where’s he made nine appearances, starting six of them.

Four starts have come at fly-half in the Challenge Cup, while his Top 14 involvement has largely been as a rotated back-three option.