Martin Amis, one of the most consequential British authors of his generation and who died last month, has been knighted by King Charles III in his first birthday honours list, which was unveiled late on Friday.

Amis, who died of oesophagal cancer at the age of 73 at his Florida home, accepted the knighthood for services to literature shortly before he died. His knighthood, according to the honours list, stands from May 18, the day before he died.

The knighthood for the author of Money, a satire about consumerism in London, comes 33 years after his comic novelist father, Kingsley, received the honour from Charles’s mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Martin Amis’ great literary friend, Ian McEwan, was also made a Companion of Honour, one of the highest honours that can be bestowed by the king, who ascended to the throne last September after the queen died.

McEwan, the author of Amsterdam and Atonement, said the honour came as “a complete surprise” and amounted to “a really good review”

Also joining the order are Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and Prof. John Bell for his services to medicine and medical research.

Introduced in 1917 by Charles’s great-grandfather King George V, the award recognises people who have made “a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time”. There can only be a maximum of 65 recipients at any time. Current members include environmentalist David Attenborough, singer-songwriter Elton John and Canadian author Margaret Atwood.

Other household names to be rewarded include the former Arsenal player turned pundit Ian Wright, who was handed the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, for services to his sport as well as for his charities. Davina McCall, the host of many staple reality programmes on British television over the past couple of decades, including Big Brother, becomes a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, or MBE.