familyop,
A Knighthood is essentially a lifetime achievement award. As nauturalman1975 said, awards for valor, particularly the Victoria Cross and the George Cross take precedence over all other awards.
Naturalman1975
Only some orders of chivalry have membership limits, the Garter and the Thistle do. The orders of the Bath, St. Michael and St. George, and The British Empire do not. I'm not sure about the Royal Victorian Order.
Yes, I am aware that not all have limits on numbers of members, but the most significant ones certainly do - and, I think those are the ones that I would be handing out to war heroes if I was in charge :)
And, of course, there's also the Order of Merit and the Order of the Companions of Honour which do not confer a Knighthood, but which have limitations on membership.
Oh, and the Royal Victorian Order does not have any numerical limits.
I should have delayed and combined this all into one message.
The Order of the Bath does have numerical limits but Her Majesty is permitted to exceed them in special cases (and they are fairly high - 120 GCB, 355 KCB/DCB, 1925 CB).
And the Order of St Michael and St George does have limits - but they are fairly high - 125 GCMG, 375 KCMG/DCMG, 1750 CMGs.
Thank you very much for the information. I had no idea.