On 21 June 1904 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). In 1905 he attended the wedding of the Crown Prince of Germany with Prince Arthur of Connaught on which occasion the Kaiser decorated him with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle. (He had previously received the Order of the Red Eagle 1st class from the Kaiser). In 1906, he accompanied Prince Arthur of Connaught to Japan as part of a mission to present the Order of the Garter to the Emperor. While on this trip and speaking with the Mikado, the Mikado remarked on how he had to improve the horses in Japan the breed being small. According to Redesdale (p. 26), Kelly-Kenny replied that "It is not always the big horses and the big men that do the best work" which compliment made the Mikado smile. On this trip he received from the Emperor the Grand Cross of the Rising Sun. On his return to England he received from King Edward VII the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO). Documentation on his trip is held in the Irish Jesuit Archives.