Back in December, it was announced that Ringo Starr (or Richard Starkey as his birth certificate says) was set to be knighted. Now, a few months later, Ringo has officially become the second Beatle to receive the honour.
On December 26th, we noted how it had been reported that Ringo Starr was set to be knighted as part of Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honours, which also included the likes of Bee Gees founder Robin Gibb.
Of course, many have felt that an honour such as this is long overdue for Starr, noting that his knighthood has come quite a long time after bandmate Paul McCartney’s knighting back in 1997. Despite this fact, this isn’t the first honour bestowed upon Ringo, with the drummer first receiving national recognition back in June 1965, when Queen Elizabeth II appointed all members of The Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire.
However, as the BBC reports, Ringo Starr has indeed finally received his honour, being knighted by Prince William (Duke of Cambridge) at Buckingham Palace at a ceremony yesterday, which also saw War Horse author Michael Morpurgo knighted as well.
“It means a lot actually,” Ringo Starr explained to a reporter for the BBC. “It means recognition for the things we’ve done. I was really pleased to accept this.”
Ringo was also asked by reporters whether or not he plans to expects people to refer to him by his new title of Sir Ringo. “I don’t know yet. It’s new and I don’t know how you use it properly,” he explained, before addressing reporter and joking, “But I expect you to use it.”
According to The Irish News, Starr also opened up in regards to the fact that he’s joined Paul McCartney as the only other former Beatle to have been knighted. “I had dinner with him last week and we were both actually laughing about where we came from, and we’ve ended up in the palace and it’s now Sir Paul and Sir Richard,” said Ringo.
Love The Beatles?
Get the latest The Beatles news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“We never even thought of that. It’s not like we were like, ‘well one day’.”
Check out Sir Ringo Starr’s ‘Give More Love’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSD2aAUZe9I
